[M3 EuroLTW]

<<<<< Fixed, this was user error, my mistake >>>>. skip to the end for my resolution.  So relieved.

The day I've been dreading has arrived. The message pops up very shortly after "Initializing" is on the display.  It is unknown to me at this point if there is a CD loaded or not. I can not open the tray. It is possible that the player was moved with a CD still in the drawer by accident.



This moment has not diminished my appreciation for what Bryston accomplishes on a daily basis for their customers.... they are awesome.

I have modified this note from its original form.

Good news. There was in fact a CD still in place. By carefully opening the CDP, manually pushing out the tray, removing the CD and by several iterations of moving the drawer in and out manually, as well as plugging in and unplugging, and turning it on/off a few times, I was able to clear the error code, and now it has seemingly returned to normal function.  I bet that is not quite what the service manual suggests. But it worked.

Boy am I glad I didn't send it in, that would have been embarrassing.

[M3 EuroLTW]

As I wait for feedback, I do wonder the following...

What part is the weakest in the carrier, sled, transport, servo board, laser entire assembly that might be either swapped in, or out from similar Phillips units that are still in production with acceptable quality.

Curious what is failing if anything out there.  Can't be too bad, I don't see a glut of BCD-1 being sold for parts. 

[James Tanner]

Hi M3 - Sadly we have not been able to locate any of the original drives so replacement has not been an option for us.

If anyone knows of a source we would be more than happy to hear about it.

One thing I am considering is some kind of trade in towards a BCD-3.

james

[R. Daneel]

As I wait for feedback, I do wonder the following...

It seems unlikely to me that the actual electronics, ie clocks, drive units etc have failed.  Wouldn't it be possible to buy a generic Phillips L120 transport, VAM 1202.... and swap over the electronics that make the VAM 1202/12 specific to a limited number of CD player of that generation?

seems easy to me... what am I missing?

Sadly, the generic Philips drive would not work. I was doing some research about it at the time and what I was able to gather is that Bryston did some modifications to the drive in order for it to perform to their specs. I don’t know what the modification is but my guess is that it involves the drive’s servo and/or control board.

It would be feasible to remove this board from the drive and install it onto a working drive, presuming the board itself isn’t the problem.

Presuming that the problem is in the drive to begin with.

[bigbrox]

I just recently swapped out the laser mechanism in my BCD-1 because I was getting the skipping issue that many seem to get after several years of use. I ordered a VAM1202 from aliexpress which even came with Phillips stickers.  The original Phillips part was also manufactured in China, so this could very likely be from the same factory.  The unit looked brand new.

I had to remove the entire drive in order to access the laser mechanism, this required removing the aluminum Bryston faceplate in the front of the drive.  One that was out the laser replacement is pretty easy.  The new unit had the wires already soldered in place, so I just had to route the new wires the same way the old wires were routed (I took pictures).

I couldn’t see any evidence that Bryston had modified the laser assembly, the two units looked identical.  Once I had it all back together everything worked as it should, skipping issue was gone.  I know this isn’t a very detailed explaination, but if there’s anyone out there like me considering this, it might be worth a try.  I have average technical ability, and no soldering was required.