I just picked up maybe the biggest CD player in the world...

T

totl

New Member
Hi, I recently picked up my dream CD player, the Technics SL-P50 P. This has to be one of the biggest CD players ever made! It makes my SL-P1300 look like a toy, and the SL-P1300 is anything but small. Sadly my new SL-P50 P needs repair, so my questions is does anyone know of a CD player repair guru? I would love to get this one up and running. I have already tried to find someone, but the few repair guys I have spoken with said I was crazy for wanting to get a 30 year old CD player up and working. But I mean how often do you see big beautiful VU meters on a CD player?! So I've got to find someone willing to try. Thanks so much for any help you can give.

p50.1.jpg


p50.3.jpg


p50.9.jpg
 
They are both beasts, to be sure, and represent the other end of the spectrum from my little Sony D5 "Walkman" player

I think the 1300 was designed to be a drop-in replacement (footprint-wise) for a 1200 turntable at radio stations and production studios.

I was involved in the early days of timecode-synchronized audio-for-video production in the mid 80s. Someone I knew was working on a synchronize-able version of one of those players, so that it would chase master timecode and synchronize to it. This was to be accomplished by a precise cue-up and play sequence, followed by electronically slewing a data buffer prior to DtoA conversion. They got one to work, and showed it a an AES or NAB show, but it was quickly abandoned due to cost and practicality issues.

They both look to be in great shape. Nice find.

Chip
 
Try asking fellow AK'er dr*audio about repairing your Technics beast. You might also try contacting AK'er tinman about your monster Matsushita.
 
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Very nice indeed... Many congrats!
There were even heavier CDP's,like the NEC CD-903 and Yamaha CDX-10000 from around the same period.
 
Cueing up cuts/auditioning for confirmation before you take it to air...

Otari (and many other) tape machines had small loudspeakers on 'em, too.

Chip
 
Thanks for the suggestions! The beast powers on, but it isn't playing a CD. It doesn't spin at all in fact. There's hope that the laser is OK because the CD door mechanism isn't working right. The door doesn't seems to shut right, and the open button isn't working at all (the only way to open it is to use a credit card to trip the release). I removed the upper housing and the circuits boards looked fine at a glance (no bulging capacitors or scorch marks). There's a clamp that comes down on the CD and there's a ring with a piece of felt that's fallen off the clamp. I am somewhat familiar with working on receivers and turntables, but not that experienced with CD players, so I would prefer to find an expert to tackle it (especially someone who has experience with this particular model). This model is rare, so there are probably very few tech's that have any experience with it. I doubt very many of these were sold at all (at the very most I bet productions was in the hundreds if that).

The reason for the speaker is this was a CD player used in radio stations, and the speaker was for DJ's to cue up the correct song.

Since Panasonic retired the Technics brand for a while, I don't think they would be able to help me out (but if I am wrong please let me know!).
 
There is something kinda satisfying about having a "Substantial" piece of gear like this... There is a feeling of Permanence, of durability, that the smaller, "Rinky-Dink" rigs just don't have. Another benefit is that larger gear tends to have larger controls, which is a DEFINITE plus to those of us who are burdened w/ Good Ol' Unca Art...(Arthritis)
 
You want big players, I got yer big player ... had a couple of these in the rack before I went all digital and ripped it all to an HTPC. Took up a LOT of real estate in the rack, they did.

SONY%20CDP-CX455%20400%20DISC%20CD%20CHANGER.preview.jpg
 
totl said:
Thanks for the suggestions! The beast powers on, but it isn't playing a CD. It doesn't spin at all in fact. There's hope that the laser is OK because the CD door mechanism isn't working right. The door doesn't seems to shut right, and the open button isn't working at all (the only way to open it is to use a credit card to trip the release). I removed the upper housing and the circuits boards looked fine at a glance (no bulging capacitors or scorch marks). There's a clamp that comes down on the CD and there's a ring with a piece of felt that's fallen off the clamp. I am somewhat familiar with working on receivers and turntables, but not that experienced with CD players, so I would prefer to find an expert to tackle it (especially someone who has experience with this particular model). This model is rare, so there are probably very few tech's that have any experience with it. I doubt very many of these were sold at all (at the very most I bet productions was in the hundreds if that).

The reason for the speaker is this was a CD player used in radio stations, and the speaker was for DJ's to cue up the correct song.

Since Panasonic retired the Technics brand for a while, I don't think they would be able to help me out (but if I am wrong please let me know!).
Click to expand...

Technics is just a name. It's all Matsushita/Panasonic under the hood.

I think calling a service center is probably your best chance at getting access to parts that are in the secret Panasonic stash. It won't hurt to try. Perhaps they can give you contact info for a higher level depot.
 
Beautiful player! I've been looking for an SL-P50P for many years but yours is the first I've ever seen that wasn't on the pages of a catalogue!

Good luck with getting it working again.
 
I have never seen one of these, let alone worked on one. However, if the door isn't working properly, the CD won't load correctly and the player won't try to read the CD until it knows the mechanism is in fully loaded position. The first thing to look at is belts. If you try to load the CD or close the door and you can hear a motor running but nothing happens, the belt is slipping or there may be grease that is gummed up, although I never saw Technics use grease that becomes gummy, that's Sony's job. See the thread below for CD troubleshooting tips:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=440522
 
Indeed a stunning piece of equipment and a very rare find!
I specialise in the repair of vintage Technics equipment here in New Zealand.
From what I know of this unit, the door mechanism is the same as the SL-P1200/1300, and there is a known fault with the 'door closed' switching arrangement.
As Dr*Audio rightly says, the disc won't even spin up until the control circuitry gets a 'door closed' signal.
There was a mod described by someone on a forum, which I remember finding some years ago - to get the door switching mechanism to function properly again.
Unfortunately, when I went back to locate it again (I have two SLP-1200s awaiting repair) I was unable to locate it. Plenty of references to the problem but not the mod.
When I get around to sorting the two SL-P1200s I have, I'll probably develop my own method of repairing the switching mech, but it may be some time before I get to them - too many other jobs waiting in the queue.
 
Highly recommend you contact AK member Tinman, and consider having him tackle the repair particularly if you are on the West Coast. I happen to know he's serviced the SL-P1200, but beyond that his skills on these rare, TOTL CD players are just phenomenal.


John
 
Awesome find!

The P1300's is what allowed me and my buddy to push for more DJ gigs in the late 90's. It allowed us to do the big party boats that were getting popular in the late 90's without worrying about the needle skipping everytime we hit a wake. Not to mention we could each do a gig on the same night and not worry about needing one or the other's music. (We shared our vinyl for a long time and made it hard to do seperate gigs sometimes). Having these awesome players and cd's made things mucho easier.
Also, made us look pretty high tech back then as not many Dj's were using CD to mix yet. It was still coming into the picture at that time. Then the two piece Denon's came out and we retired them to storage. It was just easier to lug around the Denon's.

They are pretty stout and heavy. Not to mention all metal casing. Just like the Sl 1200's. I would hope they don't require to much to get going. Our's are still sitting in their flight cases in storage. Haven't touched them in years. Im a bit curious now if they still work at all.

Best of luck to get them going again!
 
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