If you have a karik that is skipping, lasers to repair are available.

kariks pre 13000 serial are hitachi HOP-M3 lasers.

available from cpc at £14

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=AS00418


if you have a karik post 13000 or an ikemi the laser is a hitachi HOP-M3a

These are quite a bit more expensive at £18

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=AS00316


replacement is easy just remove the mech (four screws into the tray)

remove ribbon connectors to main pcb.

lift out the mech.

remove the two connectors to the laser assy (under the mech)

undo (a quarter turn) the two cam locks retaining the transport bars.

remove the transport bars.

tease out the old laser and replace.

replace the transport bars.

replace all in reverse order.

when I have time I will detail alignment of the laser (requires scope)

never adjust the pot on the laser assy it is factory set for life.

"never adjust the pot on the laser assy it is factory set for life."

This might be suspect–laser current setting is pretty crucial–if it's set at the factory there will be a) a specific measurement, and b) an effect on sound quality.

If, on the other hand, the trim pot sets the focus, this may not be so bad. More information required from both Linn and Hitachi on this.

ive got a rega planet with a dud laser,do they do one that i can replace it with?

I am led to believe that the planet uses a sony kss213 laser.

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search2/browse.jsp?N=500009+401+411&Ntk=gensearch_003&Ntt=KSS213&Ntx=&_requestid=430706

dunno which one of these it is, best to open the machine and check for markings or a visual resemblance.

arent rega prepared to service your machine?

without a serial number on the back the local dealer said no,could go straight to rega i suppose,anyway if i can repair it cheaper, nuff said.

I am led to believe that the planet uses a sony kss213 laser.

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search2/browse.jsp?N=500009+401+411&Ntk=gensearch_003&Ntt=KSS213&Ntx=&_requestid=430706

dunno which one of these it is, best to open the machine and check for markings or a visual resemblance.

arent rega prepared to service your machine?



I think they may actually be KSS240A, in which case http://www.dalbani.co.uk/index.php should come in handy, around £15 each (unbranded).

David:

Do you have similar information for replacement of the laser on NAIM CD players? They appear to suffer a higher than normal failure rate and several cannot be repaired by the factory as complete replacement mechs are no longer available.

....replace all in reverse order.

when I have time I will detail alignment of the laser (requires scope)

never adjust the pot on the laser assy it is factory set for life.

David,
do you mean that after having replaced all in reverse order, there is still something to work out regarding laser alignment?

many thanks

Jean-Christophe

yes

there are two things that can be aligned.

focus servo

laser current.

put you scope on the Vrf test point and adjust the focus servo trimmer (just north of the test point) for clear eye pattern.

a new laser is likely to be a bit bright and the laser current can be backed off.

turn the trimmer (on the laser assy) anticlockwise til eye pattern is 1.4V p-p.

when measured all the new lasers i have fitted have resulted in a level of 1.6 - 1.8v when fitted new.

under no circumstances turn the laser current above the level set at factory.

this control is incredibly sensitive and the slightest movement can result in a big voltage change.

With experience you can set laser current by ear as it really sounds so much better when it is correctly adjusted.

David,
many thanks for this useful information.
By the way, it seems they have limited stock of lasers. We'd better ordering them quite soon

Jean-Christophe

I have a Linn Karik 111 with a failed laser and am about to replace it.
I note the usefull info on Focus adjustment and Laser current adjustment.
The test points don't tie up with the Karik III which is fitted with a later version PCB.
Does anyone know the correct method of adjustment for the Karik 111
thanks
Ian Macdonald

The Mimik is a cut down of the Karik.

Can these lasers be used in Mimiks?

If I remenber corectly mimik uses Hop-m3a

Hello r50bike. Any luck on finding the test points on Your Karik III?

David, could You please clarify if the laser assay pot that adjusts the bias point to 1.4V is the same one that You say never to adjust in post 1? ;)

I just bought a HOPM3 for my Karik and I'm desperate to adjust it optimally.
Any further help is much appreciated.

Thank you for a very usefull thread!

Best regards,
Niclas

I ned a power supply for an original Karik any ideas?
jr

Anyone know for sure which model Sony laser was used in the original clamshell Planet?

Craig

Never mind, I've managed to determine that these optical blocks were either Sony KSS-213B or KSS-240A.

What I am not sure of is whether or not these are interchangeable (doubtful), or whether the mech that each one fits matches the early red coloured PCB vs. the later purplish coloured one.

Basically, I am reluctant to remove the optical block from the transport mechanism of my still working Planet just to find out for sure.

On the other hand, I would like to stock at least one spare as this is likely to be my last CDP and I enjoy it enough to want to keep it going for as long as possible. IOW, before having to succumb to the sound-bite generation's preferred server based solution.

Any shared experience would be appreciated.

Craig

i know that the jupiter 2000 used a kss 213b as i have replaced one before, if you look through the top of the planet you should be able to see a white sticker on the back of the laser withou stripping the machine. the sony based players are pretty much plug and play and replacing the laser is a very simple job

Hi,

I see the laser for the post 13000 Kariks / Ikemi are gone :(

if you have a karik post 13000 or an ikemi the laser is a hitachi HOP-M3a

These are quite a bit more expensive at £18

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSea...sp?SKU=AS00316

Never mind, scrap value or the antiques roadshow in 25 years :p

Cheers

John

thanks to my extremely advanced computing skills i am able to find

http://cpc.farnell.com/_/hop-m3a/aiwa-optical-pick-up-hop-m3a/dp/AS00261?_requestid=153517

they lowered the price (still available)

Are you sure about the HOP-M3A bing correct for the Ikemi? I just bought one and it does not look correct (components look the same, but disk spinner is at back, not front, if that makes sense).

I'm surprised how much of the business end of the "100% Clydebuilt" Ikemi is made by Hitachi ;-(

what does it say on the laser assembly in your ikemi?

Just bought an old and venerable Karik and a more modern Numerik. I'm blown away with the difference the Numerik makes.

Like you I'm looking to source a HOP-M3 laser unit or 2 for the big when. Everything else should prove to be fairly easily replaceable. CPC are a bloody pain! They can't recognise my name, email address and password all at the same time to get me logged in, but they each get recognised in different places! And trying to pay for things and get them delivered to a work address as a non-account holder is a non-starter. Take a day off work to wait for a delivery of a couple of parts....?

The real reason for posting here is the serial output connector on the Karik. As a software developer, assuming it is a standard serial pinout, I should easily be able to set up something that can peek at the data coming from that port. Not knowing the format of the data coming out it may need something a little more off the wall to decode it but who knows if you have the time?

Does anyone have any knowledge of what is output here and in what form? And is there any return chat to be sent back in? (Better be careful with that aspect!)

Have you tried registering with the parent Farnell UK? I originally registered with farnell in the states and had a heck of a confusing time. I found customer services to be very helpful, the chap finding which site I'd registered with. Now I use the UK site with no difficulty as long as I can order £20 at a time. RS components are good but you have a £5 P&P charge at least, with every order.

Hope you can all get fixed up with Hitachi laser assemblies for your Kariks (Linn probably bought by the thousand and didn't re-order when the model was replaced). I look forward to the day when the early Philips lasers and mechs can be in plentiful supply again (well one can hope.......).

David,

put you scope on the Vrf test point and adjust the focus servo trimmer (just north of the test point) for clear eye pattern.

turn the trimmer (on the laser assy) anticlockwise til eye pattern is 1.4V p-p.

I'm not sure what you mean by "eye pattern", could you explain a little more? I'm assuming this is in normal sweep mode and not some sort of Lissajou type setup?


I use both Farnell and RS at work and have personal logins for both, but CPC seems to be a little more quirky in their setup. At the moment I'm waiting for their service dept to get back to me with details of the original login whose password I can't remember, and whose username the password prompt section doesn't recognise even though other areas of the site do. Crazy but true! Experience tells me it will probably turn out to be no more than confusing and inappropriate error messages which don't really describe the real error at all. The "doing" bit of the code is the only important bit right? Yeah, right!

I'm not sure what you mean by "eye pattern"

It's a measurement commonly used to measure or assess the "quality" of high-speed digital communication signals/links.

You'll get some idea of its general application here (if you ignore the 40G specifics).

http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5988-6625EN.pdf

My Karik III sometime reads discs and sometimes it does not. It takes a while when it finally gets round to it. This only happens with CDR ! Can someone tell me what is wrong.
It plays normal CD's with no problems.

My Karik III sometime reads discs and sometimes it does not. It takes a while when it finally gets round to it. This only happens with CDR ! Can someone tell me what is wrong.
It plays normal CD's with no problems.

I had a Karik for years from new and it was always fussy with CD-Rs, even after it had a new laser. So long as it reads 'real' CDs I wouldn't worry too much.

Mick

Change the brand of CDR and or burn them slower worked for me.

I spoke to Linn about CDRs a while back. They said the Karik was only designed to work with Redbook standard CDs and anything else was a bonus. I too had difficulty with CDRs - slower burning sounds like a good idea but I think CDRs are always going to be a bit hit and miss.

CJ

I spoke to Linn about CDRs a while back. They said the Karik was only designed to work with Redbook standard CDs and anything else was a bonus.
CJ

I got exactly that explanation too. Luckily the MP3 player/ipod arrived for my kids, so the issue of CD-R went away. Always seemed wrong that their cheapo CD players would cope with CD-R, but not the Karik.