I was surfing the web and accidentally came upon a 97 for sale that was a late production run w/ a factory installed AC3-RF output. Seller wants $2000 for it. Here is the link....

https://www.etsy.com/listing/829270988/ ... jEQAvD_BwE


Anyway, here is a pic of the back panel and it looks great (couldn't tell it was added later except for the labeling in white).




I would love to see how the AC3 board looks like but I assume it's similar to the one used in the CLD-D515.

Thats pretty cool. Looks too professional to be diy although it wouldnt be impossible.

My detective eye says its not factory.
1- the AC-3 is white while the digital is in that redish goldish color.
I do see the S-video is white.

2- there is no arrow or pointer for the screw as all other screws have.

3- there is that slight blemish below the screw that would never be there if actually factory done, looks like a skip of some sort in the
drill bit or whatever was used to make the screw hole.

But a very nice job overall.

I'm sure it's a factory job.

Have to remember that Pioneer was probably looking @ their unsold inventory of 97's and decided last minute to add the AC3-RF and that is why it won't be totally perfect.

Also, the reason for the white border on the label is because they didn't bother to mimic the orange that is actually the un-painted copper chassis covered in a black screen.

I’m pretty sure Pioneer themselves would add this, particularly in that year when the 99 was out but it seemed like a downgrade from the 97 and they were both in the store...1995 or whatever it was. I’m %99.9 sure Pioneer Japan did this service which is probably why it’s so neat. They probably developed the sticker and the jig for drilling the hole right and all that and sent one kit to the other service centers.

Back when Duncan was working units he did these upgrades that looked professional.

For that much money, I would look for a McIntosh MLD-7020 or two.

Genuine question but are there any visible/audible differences between the CLD-97 & MLD-7020, or is it more of a cosmetic preference? I came close to purchasing a fully refurbished mint example of the JP version of the 97 around the time I bought my X-9 and as someone who prefers a smoother more analog looking image always thought a 97 or 7020 could satisfy this preference?

100%

97 and 7020 are identical except the front fascia. Most of the 7020 came with RF out from the factory. You can get 2, possibly 3 MLD-7020s for $2000. This was my reason. Otherwise 97 is just fine.

The 7020 that has AC-3 has the precisionlaserdisc mod board added to the audio board. As stated above the 7020 is a repackaged 97 in a McIntosh case and front face.

Thankyou both for your replies!

I may be wrong but I saw 2 of those pop up on Craigslist in LA recently. One was also posted on ebay. It had the same SN. One of them came with Super Cop. Both units were missing the front door and had AC-3 mods done by MSB. That is what the white labels says. Neither had a remote.

I spoke to one of them and he was quoting a $2000 from ebay so maybe this is that one...unfortunately I wasn't prepared to spend $650 he was asking.

I'm so happy I purchased the majority of my players back in the early 2000's. It's really ridiculous how much I see people trying to sell their players these days (especially the lower end models which I feel for the most part should be no more than $25 - $50 in my opinion ).

Anyway, I lucked out w/ my CLD-97 a year ago or so by getting it for a total of $400 ($250 for the player and $150 for cosmetic parts that were missing) and it also had a front door that wasn't broken . It doesn't have an AC3-RF out just yet but I'll get it modded @ some point (still might add an internal RF Demodulator once I research if there is enough room inside for it).

I remember looking for 97's on Ebay about 5 or 6 years ago and they were all going for around $200 to max $500. I paid $400 for my 95 about 4 years back but was about $600 with shipping. I paid £1800 for my x9 which I felt was a good price at the time. Thinking back maybe I should've bought a couple more 97's.

I paid similar for my X9 also, came fully serviced and still looks like it just came out of the box from new. Only thing is that the remote is (I think) from an S9 so unable access every single function, therefore would love to get hold of an original if possible but they never seem to come up, also like yourself I'd dearly love to own a 97 or the 959 JP version at some point!

Theres a guy who sells them on ebay in the UK, we probably both got it from the same guy. Luckily mine came with the correct remote. Only problem was the tray broke in transit. Like the M holders, Pioneer used some very brittle plastic for the tray. It sometimes takes a couple tries for it to open which I can live with. First time I powered it on and ejected the tray, all the little broken bits of plastic was sitting on top of it. There was a south Korean guy on ebay selling Laserdisc parts and he quoted me £300 for just the tray off his broken x9. Didnt think it was worth it.

£300! if it is the same UK seller I've always found his packaging top notch so you must have been really unlucky, having said that I sold an R7G to a buyer in Italy a while ago meticulously packed and double boxed yet when he unpacked and tested it the thing had obviously been dropped somewhere in transit with the pickup knocked completely out of alignment - he shipped it back to me and fortunately I was able to completely correct the problem as luckily nothing was physically broken so I sold it as collection only vowing to myself never to ship a LD player ever again....cost me a lot of money and unnecessary stress!

I have a feeling it was the courier that treated the thing like a basketball. I too have vowed never to receive and LD player in the post. I drove to Birmingham to collect my X0.

They're calling it the "Legato Link D/A Conversion" with TM - I've know the term but never seen it in the title like that.
*Also, all I'm saying is those pics in the link might be prettiest damn laserdisc pictures I've ever seen (I'm looking at them on my laptop screen) - if I ever sell a player, I need that person taking/staging the pictures.