Restored A Tampered CD Player MICROMEGA CD-10 Silver

 

 

 

 

 

This was a CD player brought by one of my regular customers with the complaint that the tray did not open. The bottom screws were missing. This is among two sets he carried and delivered to me at a Hospital where I took my wife for review, as it would save around 30KMs drive for him. He had put the two (Cambridge and Micromega) CD players in a large suitcase with proper packing materials for carrying it in the bus without damages. I carried the suitcase to my home on my return.

I took up this for service as soon as I found free time and I was shocked to see that a world famous model had been tampered and spoiled. The FFS cables were found strained and inserted crudely which damaged the pins at one end.

The Driver board was affixed on the mother board with double sided tape and I saw one screw stand just fixed with rubber glue to the bottom! The fixation of the board also was not in perfect alignment causing strain to the FFS cable.

The tray unit showed Sony and it had a Sony Eye Lens Unit too. On checking at the company’s website, I read that they used Sony DVD Mechanism 313 in CD-10. You can see it here:

https://micromega.com/docs/fiche_technique_uk_cd10.pdf

In the last picture above, we can see that the driver board does not look like the original as it was found stuck on to the mother board using a double side tape. The mounting screw you see on the driver board at bottom left was just stuck with rubber glue to the bottom plate! The board had some Blue Tiger (?) brand marked on it. My website search brought this link: https://www.suos-hifi.com/bluetiger

It also looked quite old and reworked. But I am not certain whether the company used this driver board as details could not be verified. Perhaps they might have, well I am not sure. My doubt was because of the fixing of this board, which did not look like original company design. Anyhow, let us come back to our subject, which is what was the problem found and how was it rectified. All other topics are irrelevant.

I removed the PCB and re-fixed it on the mother board in perfect alignment to avoid strain of the Cable. I removed the FS cables, cleaned the edges with pencil eraser and cut the fag end of the damaged portion, as it had sufficient length of exposed contacts. Then lubricated the other contacts and re-fixed it. Let us have a look at the tray which I removed to inspect why the tray did not open and close.

The loading motor was defective and definitely had been replaced by a poor quality local motor. I fixed an imported motor in its place and then when I tried, the loading mechanism worked really well. I played a few CDs and found it to be working very well.

I allowed it to run for full play of a couple of CDs to check whether there were any problems in the sliding movement. Anyhow, I put back the sliding cover and kept it ready for delivery to customer. Mission accomplished without any compromise in adding satisfaction to the collection bag!

This article was prepared for you by Parasuraman Subramanian from India. He is 74 years old and has more than 30 years’ experience in handling antique equipment like Valve Radio, Amps, Reel Tape Recorders and currently studying latest tech-classes conducted by Kerala State Electronics Technicians’ Association. He has done graduation in BBA degree, private diploma in Radio Engineering and retired as MD of a USA company. Presently working as Consultant to Hospital and other institutions.

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You may check on his previous article on An Unused Brand New Monitor Saved From Dump – LG 20MP48AB

 

6 Comments

1. 

   Albert van Bemmelen

   October 18, 2025 at 5:30 pm

   This CD player luckily only needed your special care with a new tray motor for the cd drive. Strange that they sell cheap poor quality loading motors in the local shops. One would think that there would be no market for such parts if they know that they were so bad? But in the end probably any defect motor is a poor quality motor. Good thing that the FFS or FS cable (the abbreviation got me confused since often the FFC or FPC name is used) was not damaged here.

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   • 

     Parasuraman S

     October 18, 2025 at 9:21 pm

     Many thanks for your expert comments with keen observations as usual, dear Albert!

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   • 

     Imoudu.O

     October 19, 2025 at 3:56 am

     Can't see smps on any of the pictures,can it play dvd disc too? Thanks for sharing sir.

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2. 

   Yogesh Panchal

   October 18, 2025 at 10:02 pm

   Good Job!Sir

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   • 

     Parasuraman S

     October 18, 2025 at 11:24 pm

     Thanks!

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3. 

   Mark J

   October 19, 2025 at 3:35 am

   I never repaired or worked that brand before MICROMEGA. Good job on the repair Parasuraman.

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