My CLD 97 is on its last legs. The machine doesn't want to recognize LDs most of the time, and when I get it to work, it sometimes refuses to play Side B. Also, when turning the machine off after recognizing a disc, and turning it back on the next day, it doesn't recognize the disc in the player again. Obviously, it needs to be repaired. But, before I do, I got a few questions. Since I don't know how much use this player has had in the past, is it worthwhile to replace the spindle motor and the laserpickup on the unit? I'd like to have many troublefree years of use out of this player when I get it working. Any advice will be appreciated.

Could be a few things, Flex cable, optics getting weak, switches. I have pretty much seem them all now, even electrical gremlins that I sent to Dunc after 2 weeks of solid diagnosis.

He gets the player and says I don't see Nothing wrong!!! It did show up after a 2hr movie one day. Usually you just have to replace a spare board. But that's the worst I have ever seen a 97 / 95 get. Usually Flex cable pins broken or optics.

The strange thing is when I play certain discs, aka an a-ha disc I just bought, it works perfectly, but when I tried to play Flash Gordon, the player doesn't recognize it. Guess I need to send it in. Strange part is it plays and recognizes CDs still. My main question is, since I don't know how much use this player has gotten from previous owners (guy I bought it from got it from an estate of someone) what would be some critical parts of the machine that should be replaced to make this machine like new internally?

Your best bet is to decide if your going to keep that 97 for Good. I would have Ldservice go through it if he has new optics and spindle for it and do the upgrades and be done with it. It might not be cheap but well worth it if you plan to keep it for good.

Duane, MI

I'll probably go to Duncan about it, yea, I do plan to keep it, but I really would like the original box and accessories for this beauty. Also, I'm not sure if Duncan replaces the cosmetics. When I bought it from ebay over a year ago, the seller said it was mint, but it looks like there's water color stains all over the front panel, tray door, and flip door, and scratches and some stains. Also, the wood side panels are scratched. Any way to help take care of thesse things? (I guess I just seek perfection from these beautiful pieces of equipment )

Greetings,

I am new to this forum. I have been collecting LD's for almost 15 years and have accumulated a collection of over 1500 titles and counting.

I currently own a McIntosh MLD 7020, three Pioneer CLD 79's, one Pioneer CLD 95 and two Pioneer CLD 97's.

After reading the post regarding the CLD 97's inability to consistantly recognise a disc I thought I would share my expierence with both my MLD 7020 and both of my CLD 97's. They also had similar issues. I found a simple fix on you-tube that solved the issue on the 7020 and one of the 97's.

Dust sometimes obscures the optics of the laser assembly. After powering down the unit, I removed the cover to gain access to the optics. I used a q-tip dipped in isoproply alcohol and gently cleaned the laser's lense and the light next to it (looks like an LED sensor). After cleaning, I swabbed each with a dry q-tip then used a can of compressed air to blow down the area. [you can also swab up the surrounding metal surfaces avoiding anything that looks like a felt pad on either side of the laser]. That was it.

After powering the unit up, I tested it. It worked perfectly. I tested over a dozen LD's and I am now playing the 7020 daily. As I stated earlier, this work for the 7020 and one of the 97's. Both are playing faithfully. I'm still working on the other 97, but as its a back up player I'm in no rush.

You-tube has been a great source for many of my home theatre projects.

I hope this helps.

To add a bit of clarification. It's a bad idea to use isopropyl alcohol to clean the lens. The lens has a blue coating and a solvent might remove some of it. One of the tech support folks at Pioneer told me the coating, if gone, could cause crosstalk to display itself .

That's interesting. How comes this wasn't mentioned before? Not that my DVL-909 has had the lid off for cleaning since I bought off the chap a few years ago.

Is there any other possible way the coating can come off and would it only create crosstalk on one side the Laserdisc or on both sides when the Laser flips over to play side 2?

What would Pioneer give the okay on to use for cleaning the (lens) the following brand names.

Probably distilled water. Since the early 80's I've used the kind of liquid cleaner made for multi-coated camera lenses, that's safe for both plastic and glass, without ever having a problem.

Exactly, lens cleaning fluid with a lens cleaning tissue was what Pioneer recommended....