Sony SCD-XA777ES Optical Pickup Block Replacement (with photos)

Congrats on a job well done. I wish I had the skills and the courage that you have. I have an old ES sony dvd/sacd player and it occasionally refuses to play the sacd layer of a disc but if it's SACD only it plays without a hitch. I'm waiting on the day it stops doing even that but so far it plays cds with no issues, only dual layer sacds.
I just had the power supply worked on and felt good only spending $125 for that job. I was quoted $200 by two other shops. My old HHB Burnit is also starting to show signs of age. Nothing lasts forever. (I hope I don't start another fire storm here).

 

I'm grateful for all the nice comments that have been posted. I'm surprised that this thread had the legs.

 

My 999ES has been sitting around for some time. First it would not read the SACD layer of hybrids and then it just quit reading all discs.

Before I get a new block I want to clean the lens to see if that helps.

Is there some kind of alignment procedure? I didn't see it in the thread but some posts alluded to one.

Thanks

 

The unit will exercise a self-alignment procedure when it boots up. If you leave a SACD in the tray and unplug the power cord and plug it back in, it will run through a shortened version of the alignment process. A more detailed set of alignment tasks are described in the service manual - it says you need special Sony discs, but you can do it with a normal set - a CD, a single-layer non-hybrid SACD, a dual-layer non-hybrid SACD, and a hybrid SACD.

That said, I almost guarantee that (a) cleaning the lens will not fix it and (b) alignment will not fix it. You need a new laser assembly.

 

Metralla,

Am I right in thinking that you did NOT run a service menu alignment after replacing the laser assembly in your player?

 

I replaced the laser assembly of my XA-777ES and did not do an alignment.

 

And everything went OK? You can play CD, SACD, hybrids? I have two players I need to sort out, hence the questions.

 

My player has problems with a few remaining discs, but most play fine.

 

The 999ES came with a laser assembly that died pretty quickly. Mine had to go back to Sony for replacement about a year after I got it. The replacement assembly lasted about 7 years. You'll need to get that replaced. My replacement started to have trouble reading discs recently about the time it developed mechanical problems as well. I found a low mileage replacement for it on Ebay that I hope runs ok for me. I bought a Denon blu-ray player when I'd given up on my 999ES, but the audio from cds and SACDs sound far better through the Sony, so I rolled the dice on a used 999ES. It's worth it to get the laser assembly replaced.

 

Mine has lasted about 8 or 9 years. The only issue I had was the the power supply failed, but I was under warranty for that.

Actually I want to fix mine and sell it. My 999ES was used in my living room mostly for DVD play. Now I stream everything from my PC, squeezebox for music and a WDTV for video.

 

If you get it taken care of, someone would be lucky to get it - it's a great cd/sacd/dvd player.

 

Hello. I'm new to this forum.
Recently I bought used CD player Sony SCD-XB770 QS.
I don't have SACD to test it.
So I tested with original CD and CD-R.
Player read half of them:
Some CD and CD-R read with no problem and play them from beginning to end.
Some CD's don't read.
Some CD-R read only TOC and don't play tracks.
When open the tray, CD rotates at high speed.
Is this a problem of the optical lens?
Do I need to change the lens or the problem is somewhere else?

Lens is a model KHM-230AAA, I saw it being sold in EBAY from a Chinese seller.
Please, give me some advice ...

 

The Chinese sellers seem to have them for a low price. Others have bought the optical block from those sellers and have not reported any issues but I went with a US parts house.

It is unusual for players using this laser assembly to have problems reading CDs - even when mine had basically given up on reading SACDs it could still play CDs. Hard to say if replacing the optical block will fix your problem, but if you are up to it, it may be your solution.

Do things improve if you turn the player off completely (unplug the cord to be sure) and then fire it up again?

 

Metralla: "It is unusual for players using this laser assembly to have problems reading CDs"
If player is hardly used, and laser is exhausted, is it possible to read very small group of CD's...

Metralla: "Do things improve if you turn the player off completely (unplug the cord to be sure) and then fire it up again"
Turn Off and On player with CD inside don't resolve the problem.

I put СD into player. Player read TOC and recodnize number of tracks and total time,
but can't start playback. I can hear how optics trying to focus and position, but failed.
When open the tray, CD rotates at high speed.

When my old player stop playback CD's,
he worked in a similar way: unable to focus and position...
So I guess the problem is in lazer lens...

Do you have other ideas???

 

Thanks all for a very useful thread, I've ordered a KHM234AAA laser pick up mechanism from an ebay seller in Germany for about £30 delivered to the UK to hopefully breath some new life into my SCD-XA3000ES which reads normal CDs fine but hasn't read SACDs for several years. My player also has a problem with the drawer mechanism too though - it opens and closes very slowly, often when it closes it doesn't seem to register that it is properly closed and pops out again, after several goes it seems to go in, I've bought the service manual and am just wondering if there are certain parts I should be looking to replace or clean/re-grease?

 

Good luck with your project. I'm sure you will be successful, so get back to us with an update, if you don't mind.

 

That would likely be the tray belt. You can test by helping to push the tray in. If it stays closed and loads the disc it's time to order a new belt.

 

My players drawer has been slipping for several months and I finally got around to replacing the belt. BTW, keeping the player on all of the time seemed to help. I think the internal heat kept the drawer belt more "sticky" then when it is cold. Just my observations...

Anywho, I've attached a few pictures for anyone who wants to attempt to replace their bad belt. It is not terribly difficult. Just take your time and I recommend documenting your progress with photo's (we all need that string to get out of the Minotaur's labyrinth!). If you can get the service manual that will help.

Pop the top. Power up the unit and open the drawer. You will need to remove the drawer bezel to dismount the assembly. There are a few screws and a clip that need to be removed.

The cage in the dead center needs to be removed to facilitate access to the drawer. Disconnect the wires, ribbon cables and four screws and then the sled with pull right out. Easy as pie!



Behold the drawer. Now that it is out you will need to remove the CD tray. There are two slide rods on the bottom, that when removed, will free the tray from the assembly. This will also be a good time to clean things up; hopefully you will not be back here again for many, many years.




This is with the tray removed. You can see the belt below the spindle. (Sorry for the crappy quality. I had to edit the dark image to be able to see the gears and belt). Remove the two bigger gears and the sled belt can be removed and the new installed.



New belt installed.



Look at the new belt on the bottom compared to the old on top. Yep, I'd say it had stretched a tad bit over the years.




That's it! Just put her back together. If you did a right proper job the drawer will open silky smooth just like when it was new. Of course, you trod this path at your own peril........

 

A couple of questions for those who have swapped out the KHM230AAA optical block:

1. have you had further issues after swapping (i.e., have the replacement blocks also failed in the same way/timeframe)?

2. is there any difference between the cheap Chinese blocks and the much more expensive 'official' ones?

And a bonus question:

3. would it be easier to replace the block by removing the transport mechanism like LA2019 did, than trying to replace in the player like Metralla did on Pg. 1?

 

This is how I messed up my Modwright CDP...I remember reading about the blob.

 

LA2019,

Thanks for the reply.

With regard to Pt. 1, I was just wondering whether Sony had learned anything, and modified the drive at some point, since the failure rate on original drives seems to be close to 100% given all the comments on the Web!

RE: Pt. 2, I think original drives were made in Japan, but it does not surprise me that manufacture has moved to China (if that is the case, and drives are no longer made in Japan).

RE: Pt. 3, thanks for confirming that. I think I will go that route when I finally get around to fixing my two hosed XA777ES models.

 

Great new photos. Thanks to all.

 

Hi tag1uk,

I just wonder whether KHM234AAA has worked with your SCD-XA3000ES. When I googled, SCD-XA3000ES uses KHM234AMA, which is far expensive than KHM234AAA.

Your reply would be highly appreciated.

Thanks, YW