Wowwwwwww..... little did I know what I would find on here once back home !
So much info in there... no way I can reply to everything so... just a big thanks for all the links info and pictures, a gold mine.
Looks like my 10 Euros CD player is now the star of the show, and will be turning into a long term mod project.... that will end up costing me 300 Euros at the end. Definitely can't afford that at the moment, nor the time to do all that. But, this thread will now be my bible and I can read your messages later on when I have time and money to tinker with this player.
You both went very wild, deep into mods ! I like to make fun of audiophools, and I would hate to become one... but you are both electronic guys, rational and tehcnical people, so I trust you to draw the line between what is actual facts, science.. .and just plain paranoia or "religious" audio faith....
So might mod my player here and there at some point, just to see if I can actually hear a difference. You do, so maybe my brain will too...
However, my brain is not trained to appreciate quality sounds. Am 43 and all I have had for now are a pair of shitty Altec Lansing small amplied speakers connected to the on-board sound chip of my 15 year old desktop computer motherboard.....
Only 4 months ago did my dad give me these shitty Toshiba speakers to go with the Philips CDC486 I fixed for him, now mine. And the amp that goes with it, cheap low end Sony amp, that I bought defective for 10 Euros. So I guess it must output crap, but I wouldn't even know, not having heard any other amp / speakers...
I guess brain needs to make side by side comparisons to train itself and spot the good from the bad...
Might happen sooner than I expected : last week, an old grand-pa on his electric bicycle, as he went past my house, noticed my lab and collection of old vacuum Tek scopes through the window. Parked his bikes, and sticked his head onto the window, trying to get a better view. I didn't know if I should call the police, or grab a hammer to get him out of the way.... I opted for the friendly approach. Glad I did. Guy is an old electronic guy, studied electronics in the early '80s. He was a bit into audio stuff himself. He scrapped a shit load of old electronics stuff just the other day, wished we had met a few weeks earlier so he could donate all that to me ! What a waste, a tragedy. But, he still have a little bit of stuff left. He showed me pics, will bring the stuff with his car this week-end. He will donate to me 3 pairs of loudspeakers. Some crappy/ obscure ones branded "Boston" he said, but also decent 3 way stuff a pair of Technics, and a pair of Marantz, in nice wooden cabinets. It's bound to be much better than my crappy small 2 way low end Toshiba speakers so... maybe I will a difference with his speakers. He did say however that speakers don't age well so they might degraded and not perform well ?! Well, it's all free so who cares. Will plug them in and see what happens !
Also some modern junk, jsut so I can salvage the electronic board from them and ditch the rest : a big 5.1 "home theater" 2x100 Watts IIRC, and also a couple DVD players, and also a small old Sony CRT monitor, like old CRT TV/monitors, always a bunch of cool power resistors and high voltages caps to salvage. Love CRTs....
Guy came back to my house a minute ago, and gave a little something already, see pics : an antic " QUAD " pre-amp, model 33.
I gather QUAD was high-end audio, like NAD ROTEL etc ?
Look at that thing, with DIN input connectors at the back not RCA's ?! Took a pic of the inside just because I love you so much
Huuuuuu... just checked the interweb... this antic QUAD 33 preamp is actually known to the world ? Found one for sale on Ebay for.... 1200+ Euros ?!
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/Vintage-Quad-33-Controle-Pre-ampli-Tres-Bon-Etat-Entierement-Revise/373522379328.. because it's in good nick and serviced. "as is" units still sell apparently for 275/350 Euros, still a fortune !
I will happily "service" it and give a good clean, for the extra 1,000 Euros !
But mine is missing a button at the front, so the audio people will probably deem that my unit is therefore worth nothing anymore, or maybe 10 Euros for parts !
For 1250 Euros though, worth the trouble of 3D printing one and going to te trouble of trying to give it some patina to make it look legit !
Anyway, back to the little Philips.
As for the display, l now understand it was a third-party off the shelf unit used in a gazillion old players, and that they all go bad 30 35 years later. Hence why apparently so many people are trying hard to find a work around, and the "market" is so large that some sell ready made units on the interweb.
So, in retrospect... it was given that my module would be bad !
I still think I would go through the trouble of designing my own module though, though that will be sped up by all the work that these people have already done. Mainly, it looks like the first guy, who managed to salvage and reuse the original LED display, had horrific DIY electronic skills. On the othe hand, the guys who designed their own PCB, and surface mounted the 5450 PLCC like I was thinking I could do.. did not reuse the existing display. There replacements don't please me. Segments don't have the same shape, and color matching with the surround discrete LED's could be a nightmare.
So, what I retain from all the info/links you gave me on that subject is :
1) Yes it's possible to make a replacement module, so no need for a extra board with tons of ugly wires. It can be made to look as clean tidy and compact as the original.
2) it IS possible to reuse the original display, since that guy managed to do it...
3) Surface mounting a PLCC 5450 can indeed do it, it fits, just.
So if I ever get the motivation to make my own module, then I would target a surface mounted PLCC 5450 + reusing the original display.
If I can't, well might as well buy a ready made module, but it sucks.. that would be a defeat...
But at least it would get the player working again, would be a clean technical solution, quick solution, and not cost a mega fortune, and not cost me any R&D time. So whatever I end up doing, at least I can sleep on both ears : this particular problem has already been tackled and solutioned, great....
So now I am left with the CDM not working. Let's see if some cleaning and a replacement laser capacitor will improve things.... stay tuned !
No Gyro, as you have gathered by now, I am not at all afraid of text walls. I am rather afraid of people who are incapable of erecting one !
How the hell could you and Shakal have conveyed all the useful information you gave me.... in a one liner tweeter style ? Information needs SPACE !!!
Bandwidth these days is CHEAP ! There is no good reason to restrain your thoughts...99,9% of the internet bandwidth is porn, spam and useless crap on youtube and social media... let's use the remaining 0.1% to write useful stuff !!!