music – Page 2 – Foxes Den

A few days at Mr.Gilberts

My wife’s best friend is getting married this weekend, so we have ventured away from our place in the East Midlands, down to the smoke on the outskirts of north London.

For 54 years of my life I lived in this area so I know it very well both man and child. Most of my formative years were spent in and around here just doing what kids growing up used to do. But today I’m back here as an adult and things today look so different from when I was younger. However one place looks as serene and beautiful as ever.

And that is Mr. Gilbert’s place.

When I was at my junior school we put on a show called, “The pirates of Penzance”. I remember dressing up and singing many jaunty songs but at the time I never made the connection.

Then one day, playing with my friends we ventured up to Old Redding on the borders of Harrow, Stanmore and Oxhey, where there were woods and cycle tracks and people walking dogs, in avenues of what I now know are rhododendron bushes. There was a small lake, and then when you wandered through the beautiful display of flowers you came upon this beautiful sight.

Speaking with my parents it now became clear that we had stumbled across the former home of the dramatist W.S Gilbert, him of Gilbert and Sullivan fame who’d written that show I was in at school, it all now fell into place.

The manor is now a hotel and that is why my wife and I are here this weekend. The Manor House is steeped in history and is still the HQ of the W.S Gilbert society who regularly stage his shows in the environment in which they were written.

Now Mr.Gilbert unfortunately saw his demise here at the lake in the grounds. In 1911 he was giving a swimming lesson to two ladies when one of them got into trouble whilst attempting to swim, he dived in to save her but unfortunately had a heart attack and his life ended there.

The manor went through changes of ownership throughout the years before being taken over by Best Western a few years ago.

The grounds are some of the best maintained that you will ever see in a hotel environment, there is wildlife freely roaming and as we were having a drink just last evening we had the company of some small deer not far from us.

It’s hard to believe we are just a few hundred yards from busy main roads, it’s just so quiet. You are guaranteed a peaceful stay here at Mr.Gilberts, it our go to place whenever we are in this part of the world.

If you’re ever in this part of the world just walk through or stay for a while. There are excellent travel links to central London and not many better places than this to have a base. It’s a touch of total tranquility on the outskirts of one of the world’s most manic city environments.

Blaupunkt BPHF-1R Dab CD radio assessment and repair

I have today received this item that I recently purchased on EBay, the original blog post can be found here: Blaupunkt Dab CD radio

Did you know that Blaupunkt translates as Blue point or Blue dot from German to English? This relates to the blue dot that quality control used to paint on their headphones that were being produced. In fact all their products now have that blue dot as part of the logo on all of their range.

I think I mentioned that this might be an easy repair, it’s probably not going to be anything too technical, but it will need a bit of deconstructing to get to where I need to be, due to the way this item is assembled.

The unit is cosmetically sound, radio in both FM and DAB works perfectly, Bluetooth and USB also work perfectly, in fact the whole unit works perfectly apart from two obvious issues.

The CD was reported as an issue however the actual fault wasn’t clear. It appears that when the unit is turned on the cd drawer opens no matter what mode the set is in. You can close the door and it opens again about 10 seconds later. It won’t stay shut and it dosen’t recognise any media.

CD drawer opens constantly

The second and what is an unlisted issue is that the unit has inherited a knocking from inside that I suspect has probably occurred in transit. On opening the unit one of the speakers has broken loose as a securing catch on the speaker grill has broken. I will need to fix this, it’s really nothing major.

Who’s knocking?

To get to the front of the unit you first have to go in through the back. When the back panel is removed you have to unsolder the aerial to be able to get into the box and unscrew the front unit, this then allows you to extricate everything through the front of the unit.

Reading about similar issues on line it appears there could be a number of issues here from loose belts, dry drivetrains, loose cogs, sensors needing cleaning, lasers needing cleaning right through to total replacement of the cd unit. I will wait and see what presents itself when I can spend some time on this in the next couple of days. It really is a nice little unit and it would be good to get it back working fully.

The mains circuit contains a big capacitor that needs bleeding before I get anywhere near it. This is done and work begins.

I’ve fixed the broken speaker securing clip by using some Araldite 2 part adhesive and a small clamp. I’ve left this for a few hours until it set hard. It’s now back in position and doing the job it was designed to do. Both speakers are now secure.

I found out why the Cd drawer kept opening. There was a previously installed and damaged disc sitting under the carriage. As soon as that was removed the Opening/Closing scenario is no more.

I reassembled the unit and it all appeared to go well until….no disc error 🤦‍♂️

Sort one issue and another arises

Damn, I checked the drives they’re ok, I’ve cleaned the lens and reassembled yet again. Same issue.

I’ve opened it up yet again and checked the output power of the Laser and that is at .03 ohms. Small adjustments on the diode show no improvement in either direction so it is looking as if the damage is within the laser itself. I don’t hold out much hope of getting the cd working as it’s not really a replaceable unit as it wasn’t designed that way. So unless I can find some way of getting around this issue I might just have to accept that the unit will just be used in Dab, FM, USB and Bluetooth modes.

It works. So I guess it’s a job done. Sort of.

Anyway who uses CDs these days?

I do 🙋‍♂️

Blaupunkt BPHF-1R Dab CD radio

Just brought this. Here’s the listing on EBay

Excellent sound quality on Blaupunkt DAB radio with built in speakers NOTE CD player mechanism is not working

(possibly an easy repair job)

Radio & remote OK.

RRP £99.00
EBay

I ended up paying the grand total £21:22 GBP for this item and that included postage. I may have got quite a good deal, however as usual I will have to await its arrival as you can’t always trust EBay listings. Hopefully the issue with the cd mechanism is a relatively easy fix 🤞

Looking forward to getting busy on this one, back to the end of the ever growing list of items to work on you go.

Check here to see how the repair went : Blaupunkt BPHF-1R Dab CD radio assessment and repair

Sony Discman D-141

Assessment and fault finding….will it work ?

Double trouble here as I’ve purchased two of them.

These variants are from 1994 just around the height of the capacitor plague problem. As I’ve already dealt with a D-121 version this week that was riddled with the issues and being only a year older, I’m not too hopeful that these two will be any different. They both have the same issue being that they turn off after about 10 seconds, this could be due to a number of issues, let’s get them unpacked and get an initial inspection done.

On initial inspection they both appear to be quite tidy considering they are 30 years old. One is missing a disc capstan however i do have a replacement from the old D-121 that was added to the spare parts box earlier this week.

Both start up, spin and then stop, sometimes showing a no disc error, sometimes not. The good news is there is no sign of corrosion on either unit.

Time to open them up….

I used the old donor D-121 from earlier in the week to replace the missing capstan on one of the units.

On opening of the cases the boards looked ok. No signs of corrosion or plague damage, this was a good sign and it was now time to look a little deeper.

I did the standard clean of the lenses with IPA, I re greased the worm gears and rails but none of this alleviated the issue of the discs stopping just after start up. I did some continuity checks and component checks, all seemed ok. All buttons worked, all switches worked, something just wasn’t right. I decided to check the output of the laser adjustment pot and this was extremely low. I spent a good hour on the first unit and a similar time on the second trying to adjust the range up and down before realising that after 30 yrs both lasers seemed to be at fault. No adjustments improved the output.

Faulty laser assembly removed and replaced

I was facing the fact that I’d now have two more failed units to go with the D-121 earlier this week. Then I thought why not try the laser out of that failed unit?

It worked. The D-121 donor unit was compatible with the D-141 and after a few minutes adjusting the laser we were able to play an audio Cd.

We have life

This week I have looked at 4 faulty units and managed to get 2 fully working with a third one needing a replacement laser sled when one becomes available. I have one spare redundant unit that has been indispensable for the repair of the other units, in theory i potentially have 3 out of the four available.

All dressed up

I won’t be wasting anymore time on Discmans in the foreseeable future. They had their time and digital sound has obviously pushed this medium in to the dark distant past. The units are becoming life extinct and it’s like performing knee surgery on an elderly individual, you are improving their quality of life for the moment until the ravages of old age take over. Bit of a crude analogy I know, what I’m saying is steer clear of these as they are going to be trouble, people seem to think they are worth a fortune and are charging ridiculously high prices for something that just about works.

It’s been fun though and I have learned a lot from it so it can’t all be bad.

Good people, stay safe. Thanks for passing by.

Sony Discman D-171

Assessment and fault finding….will it work ?

My latest purchase from EBay has arrived and god knows what is wrong with this one as the listing contained just one word “Untested”.

There is no one else to blame but me so let’s get this package open and have a look…here goes.

This unit is circa 1996, so there is a gap of 3 years between this and the D-121 that i recently attempted repair on that was badly affected by poor components. Hopefully technology has moved on slightly in those three years, and the plague of the past isn’t as prevalent in this unit.

Well, once in your life you buy something that restores your faith in your fellow man, unfortunately EBay isn’t always that place and you have to take your chances when purchasing using that platform. Today is a good day. The package was minimal and I didn’t hold out much hope. The first thing I did was to open the tray, good it’s working👍

Next I held my breath and opened the battery compartment…. Excellent no corrosion 👍

Batteries inserted I chose an old Bryan Adams album, put the volume about mid way and turned it on.

IT WORKED 😳

Ok, if tapped it jumps, so I will give the lens a clean and will lubricate the worm gear and rail and see if that helps, if not I might test the laser output and make a tiny adjustment but I’ll avoid that if I can.

All buttons have been used, wiggled about and are working fine, all menus are displayed and basically it’s all working pretty much as it should be apart from some little adjustments. The shell is un damaged but a little tatty so a good clean up will assist here.

When taken apart the thing that strikes you is the lack of capacitors compared to the last item I worked on that was only 3 years older. I put some fine lubricant on the worm gear and the laser guide rail and also cleaned the laser lens with some Isopropyl (IPA)

I made a slight adjustment on the laser strength by using the Multimeter to get measurements across the laser pot.

The reading was very low, to what it would have been when new so, I made an adjustment to the higher end of the recommended scale but the unit didn’t like it and refused to recognise any Cd, so I’ve reduced it back to what appears to be it’s operating maximum, after 28yrs I guess the laser is approaching the end of it’s useful life.

Testing the laser

The sound quality has really improved, the unit still skips if it is knocked or shaken but as I’m intending to use the unit on a table or other surface I’m not really that concerned. It’s not as if I’m going to go jogging with it, no chance. To be honest I don’t think the anti jog system that was introduced for this purpose really came in until about 2000.

Put back together, I’ve now cleaned and buffed up the exterior, this is a nice little example of one of the lower end Discman units, but I’ve enjoyed working on it and getting to know a little more about how it works and fits together. I can put this one to bed now as a successful restoration, it’s going in my locker at work for listening to my old Cd collection whilst I’m doing the tedious paperwork or a night shift.

Thanks for passing by, I have another Discman post coming soon.

Not just Dead….Fully dead

I have just brought this inoperative Roberts Dab Blutune T2 digital radio off of EBay for £8 (GBP). I managed to barter the price down a bit from £12 and I was quite pleased with myself for doing that.

So today I have received the package. A lovely little item cosmetically in good condition with the only external damage being that the speaker cover has a tiny tear in it , and the very tip of the aerial is broken along with the plastic stop that secures it when in the down position….no real issue, all easily dealt with.

The concern is the label on the top of the unit. Fully Dead!

So what’s that then? Is there an in between? Some sort of purgatory for audio systems, or is it a way of saying that someone has ensured it will never work again?

Well, I’ll get the back off tomorrow and have a rummage to see what’s in store for me. Maybe my bartering of the price has meant the seller has removed all internal contents so that I now have a nice “Empty box”.

I just love some of these descriptions sellers use, makes me giggle and wonder what was going through their minds when they decided to sell an item that is fully dead.

Maybe there is just different grades of death that I was just not aware of.

You can find the assessment and repair attempt here: Roberts Blutune T2 breakdown and fault finding

Anyway, thanks for passing by, be safe, be happy.

A night at the opera

Life’s to do list has always been quite extensive for me. Within that list was the wish to attend an opera for the first time. That wish came true at the grand old age of 57, on Friday 24th March 2023 at the Demontfort hall in Leicester.

The Ukrainian Opera and Ballet company from Kyiv were here performing Puccini’s La Boheme.

La Boheme – Puccini (Picture from brochure supplier, not my own)

I had a read up of what to expect the night prior to attending. I must say I was not at all disappointed, it was a beautiful experience, wonderful singing and you cannot beat a live orchestra. Those stringed instruments sounded heavenly and it was a few hours of entertainment that I must admit just took you away from the pressures of modern life and transported you back to a time when the world was running at a slower pace.

Did i enjoy it? You bet ya, however I’ll have to attend the next one with someone who appreciates this entertainment as the wife does not fit that category.

I feel as if a void in my life has now been filled, I have found an appreciation for this type of entertainment that I thought I did not have. My journey into the world of opera has begun.

Long May it last.

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Assessment and fault finding….will it work ?

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Assessment and fault finding….will it work ?

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