Hello!

It will probably end up tossed and/or stripped for parts but I'm giving a try at https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m1184552010.

"Junk, tray won't come out" -- but I'm not even sure they realized it's a 220~240V player and not a 100V.



SAME player (S/N# QH7508168EM -- August 1996) was previously sold as junk back in February from a different seller in https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/s1168545658.



So... really no idea what I'm putting myself into.

Let's hope it wasn't badly damaged with a failed repair attempted between February and now...

Julien

Aren’t the 925s very susceptible to broken M Holders for one thing? having said that the 2 I have owned have been very reliable and trouble free throughout a long ownership, then again they hadn’t been shipped anywhere except by Pioneer when they were new. Good luck!

Fingers crossed.

I still have spare belts (VEB1184) and M-Holder (VNL1700) I bought randomly from Pioneer in Singapore back in 2018.

Might get handy.

Main issue now is the power supply.

I can either double the Japanese to (measured) ~207V or first add a 110V -> 120V step-up and hit ... ~248V.

Both are out of the 220~240 specs :-/

Edit: Regen 120V + doubler, gets me to 246V, just 2.5% above 240V, and 4V shy of the 250V fuse on the PSU, should be OK still.

Julien

Maybe modded to 100V inside.
Just to be on the safe side, check its PSU section before feeding it 240V+

Outside look nice...

But inside... I found a half-broken M-Holder moving freely inside the case and the optical block was completely out of the rails probably trashed with the laser lens detached.




Will try to remember how to remove the tray without power and see if they modified it for 100V or not.

Got it.



Julien

It's actually powering up fine @ 245V.

It was never upgraded to 100V for Japan, whoever "tested it" had no clue what they had.
Of course, with a busted M-Holder and a damaged laser, it's a rather sad sequence.

Found where to put the optical block manually to get the tray to close/open normally.



In this configuration, the error code is E4 -- which of course makes sense: slider error + can't sense a disc

Julien

Sad to hear this, though I’m sure you were prepared for the worst! Surely can’t be many 925s kicking around in Japan?

First one I see in a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time.

I'll try to play with it, using the M-Holder I have to practice, see how far I can go.

Then just strip the PSU, tray, front, etc. for parts if nothing can play at all

Julien

I would never put a laserdisc in this unit with 40% of the grip ring broken off. You need to replace the spindle motor with one that has a good grip ring.

Absolutely agree. If I ever get to trying a disc at all, it would be a CD or a LDS at best.
That would look like a VXA2271 (spindle motor assy).

At least the 2 white gears are the ones from the M-Holder.

There are good, detailed videos on the CLD-D925, can't hurt to practice them a little for (technical) fun.

Laser Assembly error E0/E3 Pioneer CLD-D925 Laser Disc M-Holder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7bkL3HBlhw

Pioneer Laser Disc Assembly test and install Updated M-Holder CLD-D925/CLD-S310/CLD-D515 & many more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF9-4Ai43vY

I have fond memories of my CLD-D925 in the 90's, just seeing this one on my desk makes me smile

Julien

When you live on another continent far from your native one I guess there’s absolutely nothing wrong in keeping an item that brings a fond connection with home! Let’s hope you can get this old beast to function for a while longer Julien

I seem to recall that the CLD-D925 was derived from the Japanese Pioneer CLD-R4.



But no User/Service manual I can find.

Inside looks similar (but less boards) to the CLD-D925.

Ex:
https://hardoffsyndrome.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-2888.html
https://tamotsu510.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-1249.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n8ax2ZN7xw

Would the R4 be a good source of parts (spindle, M-holder, optical block) for the D925?

Maybe even an option to get a compatible 100V PSU?



VWR1275-A for 220~240V.
VWR1257-A for 100V .

And here the adjustments seem similar to the CLD-D790 and CLD-D406:

https://hardoffsyndrome.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-7717.html

Or even transplanting the CLD-R4 loading mechanism into a CLD-R5:

https://hardoffsyndrome.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-641.html

Julien

The mechanism should be interchangeable but from the picture I'd say it has the old MHolder that breaks.

Replacement M-Holders are all over ebay for less than 10$ so just get a new one.

As explained before, I already have a brand new Pioneer VNL-1700, I'm OK with the M-holder.

More interested in the spindle (VXA2271), PSU (VWR1257-A) and optical block (VWT1110).

I'll leave a daily search to try to catch a cheap CLD-R4 confirmed as working but possibly scratched/damaged outside -- which I don't care about.

Julien

Spindle motor and optical block are fine to swap. For the power supply if it has the same exact connections on the secondary side it should work. I've seen about 3 different secondary connection versions for that type of power supply.

From a visual inspection, they look similar with the the same secondary output connections (flat ribbon & plastic white/green connector).

CLD-D925


CLD-R4


Worth a try!

Julien

Found a fully working CLD-R4 at a reasonable price to try to salvage the CLD-D925.

They really look very similar.



Julien

... when I saw my most recent post was nearly A YEAR AGO... I thought I should take these babies out of the closet for the open-heart surgery I had planned for too long now.

So... both go on the bench, trays removed.



First, remove the 5 screws from the holding structures, and carefully unplug 2 ribbons and one power connector from the PSU:



Then remove the back plastic cover (2 screws rear) and pop the front plate to make things easier (2 screws front/up).

Then it's time to unscrew the whole servo mechanism (4 screws):



(close up on each)



Now we can remove the servo mechanism from the CLD-R4 and move it to the CLD-D925:



Then re-attach all ribbons, put all screws back where they belong and... Tada!

Player powers on, looks for a disc. CD/LD tray working normally.

I haven't plugged Audio or Video for final check but all the playing is working normally (CD, LD NTSC, LD PAL, auto-reverse):

Glad to report that moving parts from CLD-R4 S/N PJ1005391 EM from October 1995 managed to revive CLD-D925 S/N QG7508168 EM from August 1996.



I still have to see how the 220~240V PSU (VWR1275-A) can be replaced with the 100V (VWR1257-A) from the R4 but [CLD-D925] Restoration and 120V Swap seems promising.

Left-over from the R4/D925 merge is a full CD/LD tray and various gears from the servo mechanism if someone could be interested in spare parts.




Julien

And I couldn't wait... 220~240V PSU swapped with the 100V PSU.



It works but:

• The front mechanical power button is now useless
• The back connector doesn't align so the power cable connects inside the player through the gap left by the previous PSU
• When plugged on the outlet, player turns on immediately -- but will still turn on/off from the remote

Julien