I found this on craigslist and a buddy picked it up (Thanks Sim). Reportedly no spin.
On opening it up, helping it with a finger during TOC read made the thing work most of the time. From many places online, the suggestion was to replace the spindle driver transistors.
After a quick look at the service manual (Problem #1 understand what you need), these were one each of BC328-25 and BC338-25. Ebay had BC328-40 and BC338-40 from overseas. A quick look at some specs (Problem #2 understand what you are getting) I ordered these.
After replacing the transistors (and being as bad as I am in soldering, I destroyed one trace, used the long leg of a transistor to make the connection to the next spot), nothing.
Look at specs again. -40s have higher gain than -25s. The local shop was helpful and had recommended replacements for -25s. But they were not complementary NTE Cross reference (Problem #3 really understand what you are getting). Anyway, I bought 3: NT123AP (rotate 180degrees), NT298, NT297. The rotation note made me realize that transistors could have terminals changed. So maybe this was the problem with the -40s (Nope). Anyway, I tried the complementary ones first; it was a real kludge because of the changed terminals. I destroyed a couple of other traces but worked around with a wire and more transistor legs.
Just before I turned power on, I noticed that the spindle motor header was not connected. Argh (Problem #4 Record what you undo, so that you can redo it). Connect it. Did I say I damaged two of the legs of the transport ? Brittle 90s plastic.
After all this, it works. And it sounds good. Maybe the hype about the TDA1514A DAC is not misplaced.
In the end, I don't know if I connected the motor header or not, when I had the -40s. Maybe this was good (it could have blown up something?). Maybe this was bad (it could have worked?). In any case, it works now and it sounds good.
Digikey does not have exact replacements (unless you order 18000 :)). Mouser does. I should have got the correct parts and saved myself some trouble. Live, Learn.
Next. NOS (non-oversampling) mod. Maybe :)
2014/02/24
Attempt 1: NOS from http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/16770-rotel-rcd-855-a.html
Zero-oversampling mod is trivial- Desolder the pins 1, 2 and 3 of the TDA1541, i.e. so that there is nothing connected to these pins. Now connect, either above or below the board, pin 1 of SAA7220 to pin1 of TDA1541, pin2 of 7220 to pin 2 of 1541 and pin3 of 7220 to pin3 of 1541. Zero-oversampling mod done!
Spins, no TOC
Attempt 2: NOS from http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/165343-rotel-rcd-855-cd-player-err-message-2.html
... 3 traces cut between SAA7220B & TDA1541A (Connections between Pin 18/16/15 on SAA722B
(Terminals 1/2/3 on 1541A) and connect directly from SAA7210 37/38/39 to 3/2/1 respectively on TDA1541A. To maintain the MUTE function I connected from Pin 11 on SAA7210 to Pin 23 on SAA7220B.
Spins, no TOC
Attempt 3: Revert to stock
Spins, no TOC
Attempt 4: R108 from http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/165343-rotel-rcd-855-cd-player-err-message-2.html#post3796913
Changing this pot a little and plugging everything back in made this functional. I am not sure what the real cause was. Tempted to try NOS again, but resisting.
2014/03/09
It continues. After a couple of days, it would not play on the stack. Error. Open it up on the table, it would play. I repeated this a couple of times. Then tightening screws all the way seemed to cause it to not play. Finally converged on what seemed to be the solution. I had broken the ends of two plastic standoffs for the CDM that screwed into the chassis. The misalignment was enough to cause funniness. I assumed that since it screwed into the PCBA at 4 places and in the chassis at 1, it would be sufficient. No. When I approximated the height alignment correctly, it started to play again. :) Perhaps R108 from before was not required.
2014/05/09
NOS again. Redo attempt 2. It works. I skipped the muting function. Maybe I did not have the correct pins connected earlier.
Does it make a difference? Yes. Highs are excellent. That is the first thing I noticed. More detailed also. Try it.
2014/10/18
Removed the original output board with 2 analog and 1 digital RCA output. Connected the 2 new analog outputs via a 0.82 uf MKT to Pin 1 on the output opamps. I think it sounds better :). Unfortunately, the old player is starting to have trouble on some CDs. Perhaps it is time for an adjustment. Perhaps it is time for a DAC :).
2014/11/07
I finally gave in and opened it up all the way. Most CDs would seek and start playing but stop after a minute or so. Then the CD spun down. R108 alone did not help. So R129 a tad clockwise. This changed the symptoms. Now, no spin down after a minute, but short distance skips. I also read somewhere that wear in the ball contact of the ball bearing may be an issue. I know there was one layer of tape here. So I used a few more layers of cellophane tape. Seems ok for now :)
For reference
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/254017-rotel-rcd-855-cdm-4-19-replacement.html
According my srv/man. R129 (22K) foc. R108 (6K8) Laser supply.
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm#cdspp
and
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/226861-rotel-rcd-855-diagnostics-need-help.html#post3316894
2015/02/21
For a while, CDs played for about a minute, then stopped spinning. Lately, no power on, no red LED. Fuse was blown. So I fixed that. Then Power LED came on but no front panel. I re-soldered the power connection (3 cables, E118 I think) on the PCBA. I used the service instructions for the Philips 582 and set total resistance of R108, R109 to 1KOhm. The rest of the measurements didn't make sense. But wonder of wonders, the thing played. In the process of putting everything back together, I think I nudged E118 again - result: no spin. So I redid E118 using write extenders and now it played a whole CD . wow :)
2015/03
Back to ~ 30 s of playing.
C717 and C702 seemed to have residue below. So I wanted to replace them. I replaced C717 16V/1000uf with 16V/1500uf. C711 16V/10000uf with the same. C702 turned out to be 470uf/35V. Maybe I'll replace that another day.
Performance seems better now. Plays more than 30s :)
2016/11
No problem reading TOC or seeking. Only played tracks for a few seconds.
I used the service manual for RCD-955AX to set laser current and focus offset. It seems like the component numbers are the same as RCD-855. I only went to step E. That was sufficient to play one CD all the way through.
My favorite "Scan" button that plays 10s of each track works well too.
2018/11
TOC still works. Back to playing tracks for a few seconds.
I tried to do all steps of the service manual setup as above. Even though the last step is to adjust for 400mV +/- 20 mV, playing was ok at ~ 10mV . When I tried to get close to 400, no spin with disc.
No spin also fully assembled.
Poop.
I did the procedure again, this time, stopping short of 400, without measuring. Play is ok, but TOC was not always working. I let it go. Reassembled and - no output on right channel.
Poop.
Checking the voltages on the two output opamps, I found that one was missing. R418 seemed to not be working right. So I soldered a 33 Ohm to it and there is music. Both channels. :)
