"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
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"Nick" wrote in message
...
I've got an Arcam Alpha 8 CD player with a somewhat tired laser, the
player has started to skip on occasion and checking the RF (eye pattern)
shows that the levels are a bit low. Cleaning hasn't improved matters.

I understand that these laser units haven't been made for a number of
years but there are many 'clones' available. I've now tried two different
replacements and quite honestly they seem to be pretty poor, in both
cases the sled rack doesn't 'mesh' at all well with the drive pinion
which doesn't inspire much confidence!

In terms of electrical performance the first (labelled as NKS210A) 'sort
of' worked but checking the RF showed gross distortion and the player
skipped in the presence of the slightest surface damage on the CD. The
second (labelled as KSS210A), gave a much better eye pattern (levels
'OK' / clean and undistorted) and plays fine except for two CDs where it
has 'issues' (both of these played fine with the original laser
assembly!)

Looking on Ebay there are a multitude of different KSS240A lasers for
sale at differing prices, are there any known good ones to go for?

I also see some sellers have listings like: 'Laserpickup, Original Sony
KSS240A'. Is it possible (likely) that these could be genuine Sony laser
assemblies? Is there an easy way to tell a fake from an original?

Any ideas?

Nick


I'm a bit confused. You start off talking about a '240, and then continue
with the story of having tried two variants of a '210, before returning to
discussing the '240 again at the end. 210's and 240's are quite different
animals ...

As to replacing a KSS240A, I have to tell you that I have had pretty much
zero success with replacements for the last 5 years or so, and these days
don't even bother wasting my money getting one in for a job. As to the
places offering "Genuine" or "Original" Sony pickups, I haven't found one
yet that is. In fact, a while back, I had a long argument with an eBay
supplier who advertised an original Sony KSS240 and even had the photo on
the listing of the genuine article, with the Sony logo on the lens
surround. Because of this, and the experience I'd previously had, I chose
this supplier for the exact reason that they *were* offering a genuine
replacement. When it arrived, it was nothing of the sort. Just for sport,
I tried it in the player, and as expected, it behaved worse than the one
it was replacing.

I took it up with the supplier and eventually, after a lot of to-ing and
fro-ing got a refund, and got him to change the listing.

240's have, in my experience, always been a very fussy laser anyway, but
never more so than with the clones that you now get. In fact, the whole
laser replacement situation has taken a real nose-dive in regard to KSS
series ones over the last couple of years, and for the most part, I don't
even bother replacing 213s any more. Some work ok, some not so well, so
not worth the risk. Interestingly though, I have had no problems with the
replacement Sanyo ones (SFP101N both varieties, and usually supplied as a
complete deck) and Philips VAM 12 / CDM12 varieties.

As to telling 'fakes', the originals always had the Sony logo on the lens
surround, always had a small sticker indicating the laser diode current
that had been set to give the specified output, and always had the pot -
or pots in the case of a '240 - sealed with either white or yellow paint.

Not very good news for getting your Arcam working, I'm afraid, but just my
experience changing lasers professionally for many years. I'm sure that
there are a few others on here that can add to what I've said with their
own experiences.

Arfa


Most of the problems with the 240's I have seen ended up being the 15-pin
flex cable associated with it. They bend, flex and fatigue up near the
pickup end.

Problems are usually intermittent in nature.

Mark Z.