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 Post subject: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable?
PostPosted: 08 Jul 2020, 14:39 
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A Japanese friend is looking to get rid of his mother's LD-X1, but he says it hasn't even been turned on in 20 years.
Still, since this is a single-side player and it's only had one owner, I'm hoping this player might be reliable enough to last me a few more decades.

Will hopefully be able to go over and see if it can still play a disc before I accept it. But even if it does play, I'm probably going to have to spend a good bit of time cleaning the insides, as my friend (and probably his mother) are smokers.

It probably hasn't been moved around in the past 20 years, so I'm hoping at the most it will only need a new loading belt.

Looking around on past threads, I've seen Kurtis mentioning that the S2/X1 is fairly hard to adjust. Is this just due to the multiple steps required for disassembly, or is there something that requires specific experience?

He's also said that parts are hard to come by (and that was in a thread from years ago). What parts are likely to break down?

Apparently the capacitors can go bad according to this thread: [LD-X1] Video problem (solved)
I have a little bit of soldering experience, so I think I should be able to handle re-capping it, if needed. Any info on which capacitors are likely to go bad?
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 08 Jul 2020, 15:18 
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In all reality if its been sitting for 20 years then it really shouldn't need adjustments.

These nylon pots don't just magically move over time, I think its only due to people messing with them or capacitors/lasers getting weak due to use.

Good luck and keep us posted.
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 08 Jul 2020, 15:36 
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You will need a scope and a test disc with test remote to do an alignment. I think kurtis mentioned before that you can use a normal cav disc for certain adjustments. Some machines require a special test jig which you'd have to make yourself as finding them would probably be impossible. Reading the service manual will give you an idea of what you have to do.

If you do take it apart then film yourself doing it and take many pictures. That way you have a visual guide as to how the machine dissasembles in case you get stuck or lost.

The tar and nicotene from cigarette smoke can settle inside players and on the laser lens. A player that's sat in such environment probably does need a good clean. My brothers 925 was yellow because he kept it in a room he used to smoke in. Even the tray was coated in a thin yellow film. You dont realise until you get a cloth to it. Didnt get round to cleaning the laser on that machine yet but I'm sure it's just as caked as the tray was. I think this issue is exacerbated if the machine is actually being used because all those rpms the disc spins at will be sucking air and smoke through any opening.

Electronics can fail in theory if they havent been powered up in a long time.

Keep us posted.
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 09 Jul 2020, 10:36 
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yep, that's gonna hopefully be my retirement. A small room, an LD player, a case of San Miguel and a carton of Winston lights

I honestly think the cigarettes will keep me sharper in old age.
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 09 Jul 2020, 15:29 
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Heh, I kinda look forward to taking up smoking again as well, once I reach a point where my health doesn't matter as much and I don't care so much about the condition of the stuff in my apartment.

I only recently bought an oscilloscope, but I've either been busy with work or too drunk to mess with it. (Life in Japan is both a blessing and a curse.) Don't have a test disc or test remote, but hopefully I won't need them (doesn't seem like you need the test remote to get into the test mode, at any rate). I did skim through the S2 service manual, and it certainly looks like a PITA to adjust, given that you have to put the player chassis on its side, take out a bunch of stuff, and spin a disc upright beside the sideways chassis. But should the need to do so arise, I think I'll be able to manage as long as I take my time and pay attention to what I'm doing.

Was going to ask my friend about the player again tonight, offered to buy him drinks but he said he was busy. Will keep you guys updated on how the player turns out, though.

Too bad I hadn't gotten this offer just two years ago or so, as mimylovesjapan seemed to indicate in the above thread that Pioneer Japan was still servicing players then. I emailed them a couple months ago to ask about an occasional error code I'd get on my X9, but they said they no longer service players due to lack of parts.
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 10 Jul 2020, 13:36 
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jd213 wrote:
Was going to ask my friend about the player again tonight, offered to buy him drinks but he said he was busy. Will keep you guys updated on how the player turns out, though.


Hopefully if you can get him drunk enough he might just give it to you for free! :crazy:
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 10 Jul 2020, 14:27 
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Oh, he already said he'd give it to me for free, I do him a ton of favors. If he was paying minimum wage for all the time I've spent helping him over the past few years, he'd certainly owe me more than the going rate for an X1. Plus he isn't using the player and it takes up a lot of space and dead weight, and he doesn't like to use Yahoo Auctions or anything, so I'd be doing him a favor by taking it off his hands.

Only problem is that I don't have a car (no need for one in Tokyo most of the time), so if the player still works, I'm planning on taking a sturdy Samsonite wheeled suitcase and a ton of packing material. Will first be taking off the bottom plate and coming back for it later, so that should make it lighter and easier to carry.
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 10 Jul 2020, 21:25 
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jd213 wrote:
Oh, he already said he'd give it to me for free.


Nice! Hopefully it works and doesnt require too much maintenance. Smart idea taking the bottom off, should make it a lot lighter and easier to carry.
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 12 Jul 2020, 07:45 
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Friend says that the putting the player on its side in the suitcase might not be a good idea, but he might know someone with a car who can take it over to my place.

Although I'm starting to worry if I already am putting too much of a strain on my floor with all of my LDs as it is... It's a steel/concrete apartment building but it's getting a bit old for Japan.
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 12 Jul 2020, 10:35 
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good luck JD. Yeah I miss the cheap booze in Japan. I'm drunk most of the time anyway but in Japan it would be cheaper and I'd have super easy access to all those great great super smooth Japanese lagers. Miss real Sapporo and Kirin Ichiban the most..we have lame licences of those here. At least our Asahi cans are fully imported from Nippon. That's basically all I drink, go though a case a week.

Yes, yes the lure of free Asian societies were alcohol and tobacco aren't taxed to oblivion...I think I need to get back to somewhere in Asia...
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 12 Jul 2020, 14:28 
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Yeah man, I loved drinking the big 750ml steel cans of Sapporo back in the late 90's/early 2000's when I was still living in the US. That's the only time I've seen the "Sapporo Black" variant, too. There is of course "Kuro Label" Sapporo in Japan but it's a completely different beer.

But I try and drink more chu-hai nowadays anyway, cheaper and doesn't lower ones T-count like beer can. Just got to make sure you don't become an alcoholic with it.
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 27 Jul 2020, 11:16 
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Welp, looks like my friend actually no longer has the player: Apparently it was a big SVHS player or something he saw in his storage space. He says he may have lent out his player and some box sets to someone years ago and never got them back.

Oh well, easy come, easy go.

He did say he had a 29" Hitachi TV he could give me, but he still hasn't gotten around to testing it yet, and best it does is S-Video (fine for LD but would like component/D-terminal for BDs/DVDs and retro gaming), so not sure if I'll take it.
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 Post subject: Re: Is the S2/X1 really that hard to repair? Is it reliable
PostPosted: 27 Jul 2020, 12:20 
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That's a shame. It may still turn up you never know.
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