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 Post subject: [CLD-M90] Now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outputs
PostPosted: 27 Mar 2021, 23:47 
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Hey everyone,

After saying for so long that I was going to do it, I finally found the time to complete this pretty intricate modification to this player. Let's quickly check out the before and after pics and then I'll provide some additional details.

Front View Of The Player
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Back Panel "Before"
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Back Panel "After"
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Back Panel "After" (wide view)
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Back Panel "After" (side view)
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So now I'll break this mod down into four sections; 1) Back Panel Preparation, 2) Digital Output Mod, 3) AC-3 RF Output Mod, and 4) Adding Labels To The New Output Jacks.


Back Panel Preparation:

The first major challenge that literally took over a year to think about was how to punch out a square hole for the optical version of the Digital Output. I actually considered just doing the coaxial version of the Digital Output to simplify the mod but I really didn't want to waste the optical option that was part of the kit that I purchased. Here is the board that I used for this mod ( https://www.ebay.com/itm/CDROM-car-navi ... 3774426627 ).

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I also considered just mounting this board simply "anywhere" inside the player and running a permanent optical cable out of a simple punch out but I thought it would look really cheesy (glad I did not do it).

In any case, let's get to the back panel. Of course, one has to remove it off of the player for the sake of ease especially since I'm going to be punching out three holes instead of the usual one hole in my previous mods. The panel came off pretty easily with only nine screws holding it in place.

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Now let's turn the panel around to see where I'm going to punch out of the holes.

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Here are the lines I drew out on the back to figure out a good placement as well as to line-up all three holes evenly....

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..... and finally a test fit to see if any obstructions could be a problem.

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The next step is to just punch out the holes with my Roper Whitney #5 Junior Hand Punch using the 3/32" punch size (about a 1/4" diameter).

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I prefer this over drilling as I feel it's a less risky option in respect to slipping or even bending the back panel if I was to apply pressure w/ a drill

I chose the following locations based on trying to line-up them up w/ the other RCA jacks on the bottom (at least on the left side) but I especially wanted my new jack openings to be straight across the top.

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Next, I needed to enlarge all three holes w/ a reamer as they were all just a tad too small for the RCA jacks and the optical transmitter.

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The hole on the left is now enlarged and still looks nice and clean.

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So now the challenge is to make a square opening for the optical transmitter. I first start w/ getting a template of the exact size I need and I found it on a CLUX HDMI Extractor.

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I had the CLUX faceplate removed and centered it on the hole I needed shaved out (and used double stick tape to secure it).

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The next step is to use the reamer to enlarge the hole.....

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.....and then I'll switch to a triangular file (Crescent Nicholson 21874NN)

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(thanks to "integra" for the advice on the file he used on his ADP-303 mod :thumbup:).


This took awhile to grind down but the results were amazing.

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Here is the optical transmitter being test fitted and it's a perfect fit.....

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..... and now showing a screw hole punched out to mount the optical transmitter

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Now we have all three jacks mounted.....

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.....and tested for clearance w/ the tray retracted.

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Now it's time to move on to the next segment of this mod (but I'll still cover more about these jacks toward the end).


Digital Output Mod

My first step was to first remove the optical transmitter that came w/ the board as the original transmitter came with no mounting hole (the intent of this board was to use the board itself as the basis of a mount but that wasn't going to work here). Also, I had the RCA jack removed as I did not like the way it extended out and I wanted it to match the other RCA jack for the AC3-RF Out.

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Here is the board now w/ the new optical transmitter now soldered in and I also had hot glue added to the sides to strengthen its connection to the board (the transmitter housing is not well secured to the transmitter itself so the glue was necessary).

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Moving on, I soldered in a coax wire to the pad where the RCA jack used to reside so I could connect it up to the new jack I have mounted to the back panel.

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(red arrows indicate hot glue to add additional mounting strength for the board to the back panel)


Now it's time to tap the digital signal from the player to the board. The interface is right off the Sony CXD2500AQ DSP as shown here.

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Pin 60 will be the tap to provide the signal while Pin 59 is just a verification that the digital output is set to "on" (if there was 0 vdc on pin 59, I would have to jumper a 5vdc point to it). Fortunately, it was getting 5vdc so I didn't have to make any changes. The kit included a coax wire that was pre-tinned and I had it soldered in from the opposite side.

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(coax wire to pin 60 and green wire to GND)

Moving on, we'll also need a 5vdc power supply so that was as simple as finding some jumpers that were already labeled.

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The Digital Output is now complete and now it’s time to move on to the next step.


AC-3 RF Output Mod

So I'll be using my 2nd scratch built AC3 board that I built over two years ago (can't believe it's been that long).

Top
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Bottom
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I won't get into details regarding the board itself since I covered it in this previous post. >>> Scratch built AC3-RF board installed in my ProScan, PSLD43

The focus here is mounting the board and running the wires.

First step, I needed to punch a hole into the board so I can install a plastic stand off....

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.... and put some electrical tape on the bottom of the board as a precaution against shorting in case it falls on to the main board.

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Next up, time to pick a place to mount the board and I chose a location toward the front of the player that limits the length the AFM signal needs to travel to it (it was mentioned in instructions I have received in the past to keep this cable under 10" as a means to reduce signal loss but I'm not sure how definitive that advice is).

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The AFM point is tapped from the audio board (hangs vertical on the right side of the player) off of the middle pin of transistor Q351 which is located right before the band pass filters of the CX chip.

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I had my coax cable soldered from the other side as such and also had the shielding grounded via the green wire.

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The remaining wires needed for the board are +5vdc (red), -5vdc (blue), Mute (yellow), GND (black), and another RF cable to the RCA jack. Here are images of all of them connected up.....

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..... and the AC3-RF board w/ all the wires now connected.

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Now a wide shot showing the entirety of the two mods.

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And finally, a shot of how much clearance there was w/ the tray. It looks close to hitting it but in reality there is still plenty of room.

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I tested the board w/ an AC3 LD and confirmed the signal was passing to my Demodulator / Processor and I did get a voltage output on the RCA jack at around 4.3 volts w/ the mute control operating correctly to kill that power on pause and stop (I really do feel if anyone does this mod to really try and get your mute control to work as a means to prevent extraneous noise on your speakers during start up and side changes).


Adding Labels To The New Output Jacks

So finally we're near the end and believe it or not this was somewhat a complicated mess. I originally wanted the Digital Outs to emphasize their use to transfer both PCM and DTS encoding but space between the jacks and my pickiness to maintain the font size made that difficult as you will see.

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I ended up w/ the labeling you see @ the top of this post and overall I'm pretty happy with it. I was trying for all three labels to have the same height so they looked even across. Unfortunately, I think I made a total of four attempts to get it perfect and in the end I got tired of trying.


I had the player tested on AC3 & DTS LDs' and DTS CD. The mod worked as it should and it was thrilling knowing that I was listening to a sound codec that over a week ago the player was incapable of playing. And since it's a CD Changer as well, now I have the convenience of playing multiple DTS (or standard) CD titles without getting up from my seat (this is actually the only CD Changer I've ever owned). Picture quality wise, this player is definitely not impressive as it is a bit noisy but it still holds up fine (especially with discs that have good mastering). I'll be using this player soon on my cheap set-up so I can pull my ProScan out for some much delayed minor maintenance and further test the player.

Hope everyone enjoyed the post. 8-)


Last edited by ldfan on 01 Jul 2023, 06:38, edited 47 times in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Pioneer CLD-M90 now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outpu
PostPosted: 28 Mar 2021, 01:20 
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Great looking stuff, looks like it is a pain but you have the patience to do this and it came out nice.

Also I know that you can use silicon calking in those tubes or hot glue, an arcade repair guy told me about the silicon once.
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 Post subject: Re: Pioneer CLD-M90 now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outpu
PostPosted: 28 Mar 2021, 16:59 
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Very professional. Excellent!
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 Post subject: Re: Pioneer CLD-M90 now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outpu
PostPosted: 29 Mar 2021, 05:43 
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That was amazing work!! Congrats! Now I need to send you my player so you can mod it! :lol:
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 Post subject: Re: Pioneer CLD-M90 now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outpu
PostPosted: 29 Mar 2021, 07:33 
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Absolutely awesome LDfan,
You should be very proud. Fantastic stuff !
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 Post subject: Re: Pioneer CLD-M90 now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outpu
PostPosted: 29 Mar 2021, 07:45 
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I too must join everyone else here and mention that you have my total admiration on what looks like a superb job...well done :thumbup:
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 Post subject: Re: Pioneer CLD-M90 now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outpu
PostPosted: 29 Mar 2021, 09:09 
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Thanks everyone for the compliments :).

This mod really was a labor of love to me and I have to admit I enjoyed just about the entire 10+ hours I spent on it (13+ hours if you count the three hours I spent two years ago to build the AC3 board). This was my first "from scratch" LD player mod job in 12 years and definitely the most challenging with that square hole and just being plain picky about getting all the punch outs perfect (can't make a mistake on alignment since there would be no chance for a do over).

I'll probably be setting up the player on my system in the next few days and really put it through its paces. I never really used this player very much in the past so it will be getting a good workout for the first time (especially on those new outputs).

My next project will be modding my CLD-D703 with an internal AC-3 RF Demodulator and then followed by a CLD-97 that may just get an AC3-RF mod only (unless I can fit a Demodulator into that unit as well). Neither of them will be as challenging as this M90 but I'm sure I'll enjoy getting them completed as well.
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 Post subject: Re: Pioneer CLD-M90 now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outpu
PostPosted: 06 Apr 2021, 00:03 
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It looks like I had to a make a minor adjustment to the Digital Output mod already.

I was testing CD playback and decided to activate "Direct CD" that is designed to shut down the unneeded video circuitry to improve sound quality and supposedly speed up CD loading.

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Well.... oddball thing is that every time I activated it, my digital output went dead. I quickly realized that I did not take into consideration that I tapped my +5vdc point to the video circuitry side of the player.

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I ended up moving just the power lead (GND stayed @ the current location) to the following location.

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Problem is now solved. My AC3-RF board is still on the same +5vdc point (as well as the -5vdc) on the video circuit and that is fine since it can only be used w/ the video circuit on anyway. Also, maybe it's good idea to keep it shut down in Direct CD mode in case it might create interference.


Moving on.... I'm also having some oddball CD skipping issues that is very inconsistent. Sometimes it skips a certain disc a lot when it's loaded @ position 3 in the changer but then it plays fine when it's at position 5. I'm thinking that since it's not constantly skipping that the centering is not an issue but possibly the loading arm of the changer might be having some issues getting the disc centered correctly. In any case, I'll continue to test the unit out and exercise it more in hopes that maybe the mechanism needs to loosen up to correct the error since I was not using this player very much the last few years.


Last edited by ldfan on 01 Jul 2023, 06:39, edited 4 times in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Pioneer CLD-M90 now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outpu
PostPosted: 06 Apr 2021, 01:18 
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ldfan wrote:
I'm also having some oddball CD skipping issues that is very inconsistent.

I think there are two small belts under the arm you might want to check if you have not already.
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 Post subject: Re: Pioneer CLD-M90 now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outpu
PostPosted: 06 Apr 2021, 03:35 
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I have thought about those and have not ruled them out. My initial perception is that they are mostly responsible for the changer portion of the mechanism and not clamping so I was considering that it’s just the clamper itself having trouble centering disc as it lowers.

Anyway, I played more CDs’ and only had one disc out of five give me skipping issues and that disc also had issues playing on my ProScan LD, Pioneer CLD-3030, and Samsung Blu ray (I later found a scratch on it that surprised me). I also tested the CD on a Pioneer CLD-D701, Sony DVP-S7700, & my car CD player and they played the disc fine. I guess I’ll be applying some CD Fix It cream to this disc now.


Last edited by ldfan on 06 Apr 2021, 20:33, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Pioneer CLD-M90 now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outpu
PostPosted: 06 Apr 2021, 18:15 
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You sir are doing fantastic work that inspires the hell out of me to follow the same path. I can't say enough flattering things about your extremely informative and detailed posts regarding these mods and upgrades. It is so refreshing have more than a simple one or two word or sentence explanation of what you're up to. Excellent photos make it even more helpful. Please don't ever stop sharing your progress and innovations with us!

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
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 Post subject: Re: Pioneer CLD-M90 now modded for AC-3 RF and Digital Outpu
PostPosted: 20 Apr 2021, 01:48 
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Ok... possibly the final post about this player (or not :D )....

It appears that I do have the CD skipping issue resolved finally. It was more simple than I thought as it just needed lubrication on the sled rail (noted in red). After I sparingly oiled it with a thin synthetic oil, it tested fine w/ all the problematic CDs' that I threw @ it.

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In addition, I did order a couple of belts for the sled and compared it w/ the diameter of the one in the player (noted in blue) and found the older belt to be so slightly larger in diameter so I replaced it anyway. I'm leaning on the idea that the lack of lubrication and and the stretched belt probably contributed to the skipping.



Lastly, it appears that I do have a couple of cracked sections in the drive rail for the pick up. Here is a pic of one of them...

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I did think at first that this could be the skipping issue but I confirmed w/ cplusplus that is rarely the case unless the pick-up has issues transversing the crack. In my case as well, I tested the skipping section of one of my CD's and found that the pick-up gear was no where close to the location of the crack.


So with all that hopefully now resolved, it is time for me to move this player to my set-up sometime this week. Can't wait to have it working in a real world environment for awhile ;).



Addendum as of 4/29/2021:

I did get the player integrated into my low cost set-up which is essentially my Sony SDP-E800 connected up w/ a Logitech 5.1 PC speaker set-up.

Here is the view from the back showing all the connections...

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..... and a front view showing the unit playing an AC3 LD ("discrete" indicator lit on the E800 to indicate presence of AC3 coding).

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I have been playing more CDs' as of late and the player is overall doing well. I did find an odd issue where it won't play one specific CD-R discs properly (warbling and distortion) and after some troubleshooting (including temporary pot adjustments) I'm going to assume it's just an odd compatibility issue since it plays everything else I throw @ it. Now I really need to sit back and watch a movie in its entirety ;).
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