90's Alpine CD Headunit repair.

[stevek]

Hi,

Late last year I bought an untested Alpine 7980M complete with its control box cage and wiring...



It came without any 3-disc magazines, hence the untested sale. After a lot of searching I managed to buy a new twin-pack from the USA, have it delivered to a friend of a friends US address and later flown back to the UK in said friends luggage...





Excited I hooked it all up on a 12v supply on the desk...



It comes on, Lights up and the radio works fine and sounds good. So I tried a magazine of CD's in it...



It loads the CD and spins it up but doesn't start playing. It gives up and cycles on to the next disc and does the same. After trying and failing to play the third disc it ejects the cartridge.

I partially disassembled it to access the laser lens and very carefully cleaned it with lens cleaning solution on a cotton bud but alas it's still the same.

Am I right in thinking it will most likely be a failed laser? And is there anything that can be done to replace/repair that?

Any help would be most appreciated,

-Steve-



PS. I'm fairly comfortable with disassemble/reassembly and soldering if a replacement part was available but I guess that's unlikely. Does anyone knows if any other cheaper Alpine's shared the same laser units?

[ChasR]

I'd call Alpine UK up. They tend to repair them well with a warranty to boot.

If these are anything like some of the older Alpines they do not tend to like playing recorded CDs too much which tends to damage the laser or at the very least the 7944Rs were very picky with delicate laser mechanisms. This could have been the reason why it was sold without the magazine I hate to say.

[stevek]

Yeah I realise that it may have been sold without a magazine to disguise it being faulty. I knew that when I bought it and decided to take a punt, I've just got to work with what I've got now.

I was trying it with Original CD's but who knows what caused it to fail, It could have been struggling with CD-Rs which stressed the laser mech too much I guess.

Would Alpine really be interested and able to service an old thing like this? I suppose I can give them a call and find out how much that might cost.

-Steve-

PS. Just taken a friends laptop apart because it was over heating. Turns out the cooling fan has got stiff, 5min on ebay and £4 later and a new one should arrive in a couple of days. Shame its not so easy with an old head unit.

[ChasR]

Indeed Alpine would be. Whether they still have stock of the laser is another matter. I know that for the F1 status HU (so the 7909R and 7944R) they do stock the parts with those two HUs now being the best part of 15 years old now. I'll ask a friend what it cost for his '44 . It should be cheaper for yours seeing as even today the F1 status stuff goes for silly money.