What's inside the world's first portable CD player, the Sony D-50 (D-5) Discman?
1984 vintage!
Also a look at the laser beam splitter optics, and the gorgeous service manual.
Service Manual: http://freeservicemanuals.info/servicemanuals/download/Sony/d-5.pdf
HIres photo: https://www.eevblog.com/2016/03/29/eevblog-863-worlds-first-portable-cd-player-teardown-sony-d50-discman/
Nobutoshi Kihara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobutoshi_Kihara
MC Frontalot Zero Day Album: http://frontalot.com/index.php/?page=cd4
Forum: http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-863-world's-first-portable-cd-player-teardown-sony-d50/'>http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-863-world's-first-portable-cd-player-teardown-sony-d50/
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1984 vintage!
Also a look at the laser beam splitter optics, and the gorgeous service manual.
Service Manual: http://freeservicemanuals.info/servicemanuals/download/Sony/d-5.pdf
HIres photo: https://www.eevblog.com/2016/03/29/eevblog-863-worlds-first-portable-cd-player-teardown-sony-d50-discman/
Nobutoshi Kihara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobutoshi_Kihara
MC Frontalot Zero Day Album: http://frontalot.com/index.php/?page=cd4
Forum: http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-863-world's-first-portable-cd-player-teardown-sony-d50/'>http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-863-world's-first-portable-cd-player-teardown-sony-d50/
EEVblog Main Web Site: http://www.eevblog.com
The 2nd EEVblog Channel: http://www.youtube.com/EEVblog2
Support the EEVblog through Patreon!
http://www.patreon.com/eevblog
EEVblog Amazon Store (Dave gets a cut):
http://astore.amazon.com/eevblogstore-20
T-Shirts: http://teespring.com/stores/eevblog
💗 Likecoin – Coins for Likes: https://likecoin.pro/ @eevblog/dil9/hcq3
Done.
i had one it came with a support with 220volts converter and two rca´s , portable in a sense that coud play cds outside not walking and listening to cds, it was grey
I bought one when the first came out, along with a ZZ Top CD 🙂 It failed almost immediately, so I took it back and was given another one… which I still have. In fact, I just opened the top and the glue holding the plastic to the lid came way. That part, when glued to the lid, lifted the little half-size metal sheet that holds the magnet that attracts to the hub, thereby holding then CD in place. I think I can just reglue the plastic part and it'll work fine, but I was wondering whether or not the one little spot on the lid that DOESN'T have glue needs to be protected when I apply new glue… but I guess I'll have to figure that out myself. Anyway, I could obviously replace this for almost nothing at any department store… or thrift store, for that matter… with a newer, probably better unit, but I have a certain amount of affection for this particular unit that been with me so long. $300 new, if I remember correctly, which was real money back in the 80s! 🙂
Me and my friend found a box of these in an abandoned building outside of our town. It has been boarded up for years and your not supposed to go in but we did late at night when I was staying over at his house. At first we thought we found something cool when we seen they was Sony on the box. We were like bro what if there are PS5s in here! Then we realized they were some old junk "CD" players. Just outdated crap since nobody uses "CD" anymore. We ended up smashing a bunch of them but once we got tired of that we poured some unleaded on them and basically blew them up! It was a lot of fun. We plan on going back to that building again and see if we can find some more crap to smashup for fun. We only looked in one room cause we were afraid we'd get caught. I found this video cause me and my friend were seeing if anyone else had a video of smashing those old things. This teardown was closet thing we could find.
Dang, I was 19 when I bought this unit while being stationed in Germany. I also bought the Sony FH-7 Mk II a couple months before so after buying the Sony PS-Q7 record player, I bought the D-5 player. And it was expensive! I think I paid around $200 for my D-5 at the base PX but as you can guess, the stereo and record player was pretty steep as well. Great to see what’s inside this thing, I bought one recently so I’ll have to resurrect it from the dead. So far I’ve seen that these are repairable for someone with minimal electronic skills but make sure you only use silicone grease or silicone lubricant on the plastic/nylon gears! Any other lubricant will eventually slightly swell up the part and cause it to become brittle.
Sony.
I rest my case
When I get hold of vintage Sony service manuals I always wondered if the voltage information and waveforms weren't added later by a kind soul for the rest of us. Turns out it's them all along.
Mind blowing engineering mentality
Those speakers with the square drivers in that folder look sweet. Wonder what the model number of those was.
got it, Morty
that is very Nice……
The machining in the laser head alone is art
Sony Rocks or did it rock? Great video.
Hi guys..today is a bad day for me..I've broken my Sony D 50. I have use a external power supply to feed the portable box batteries, but the polarity are inverted . In one second I have I smelled a burning smell. Did you Know it's repairaible
I got serial number 38621. the production rade was a 100.000 a mond .. it still works fine… pres mode and you got skip ore fast forward….and no sound limitations then days, so great volume
I still have one of these, with a box that plugs in the back with an AC cord and RCA outputs. Still works as far as I know.
I have two D-50s here at Sony in São Paulo – Brazil, for repair. I accept donations of parts. WhatsApp (+5511) 98374-4074 👍
I really don't understand where this guy gets off on deriding the design at the time. All any engineers could do was work with the components and technology available. The wires may allow the PCB to be flipped for assembly and testing, the trim pots needed due to wider tolerances on components back then (37 years ago!) after all etc etc. I have not seen many bad products made by Sony, often they were world leaders. Maybe the guy here can get in his time machine and access future tech, but unfortunately back then, they could not. I have the same machine and in my view, to make this and sell it at the price was genius. It's a little jewel.
Sony released its first small portable cassette player Walkman in 1979 and after five years, yes after five years Sony released its first portable CD player. A huge advancement in five years. From the analog audio portable technology to the portable audio digital technology in 1984.
In 1984 Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka the founders of Sony were still in power and were doing miracles. Afters a few years they both retired.
You should read the biography of Akio Morita, Made in Japan. It can be found easily in internet from various websites. He wrote about the D-50 (or D-5 as it is also know) portable CD player. Initially it wasn't named Discman and nowhere in the D-50 (D-5) CD player or its original box there is the name Discman. It was an extremely expensive CD player and didn't have the initial commercial instant success of the first Walkman. The first Walkman wasn't really cheap but was quite affordable from the beginning. The CD-50 (CD-5) was more a proof of how technologically advanced was Sony regardless of the cost.
This model was my first CD player. Came with a dock to wire it in to your home stereo as well. Worked really well for quite a few years.
Sony produced the best service manuals they always held so much information.
Large pages that folded out. A real dream and they were produced so that dealers could service and repair the items with some degree of ease.
No one does it like the Japanese!
I got one of these but D-5A