Seeking thoughts on a non-holy grail Sony CFD-565

[RTM]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new member and this is my first post.

I found one of these boomboxes for a pretty reasonable price, pretty much complete and unmolested.
I wish its cassette section was better, but I'm a neophyte to boomboxes and have only worked on fewer than a dozen of them in my life.

The downside appears to be that its main tape deck doesn't have auto-reverse, there are no settings for tape type/bias or EQ and there is no tape counter.

But other than that this thing seems to be pretty good, particularly the SQ, to the degree that boomboxes are a bit "Sui Generis" with respect to SQ.

I'm not finding a lot about it out on the Internet. But I did find this group, so I figure this would be a good place to start.

Everything works well except for the two tape decks. I have the SM and it shows three belts, and it goes without saying that it's past due time to change them.

Any advice when it comes to restoration would be very much appreciated. TIA.

 

[Tinman]

I received a cfd-555, minus the antenna and remote, for free years ago.
It was my garage radio for a quite a while.
I ended up finding both an original antenna and a nice remote for it.
Unfortunately, the 555 didn't have a digital tuner so the remote couldn't change the stations.
The CD wasn't working but a simple cleaning of the lens seemed to cure it.
Mine did have a 3 knob EQ plus mega bass and surround settings.
Amazingly, both cassette decks worked very well so I never ventured inside of it.
I sold it a couple of years ago to an older gentleman for $50.
It was a great sounding radio.
I can give you some general advice, take lots of pictures when you do open it up.

 

[caution]

Looks like the belts have lengths available. There may be two each of the first two belts, it's not clear from the SM.
3-362-989-01 is SCY5.2 or SBO5.2
3-369-931-01 is SCX8.6 or SBS8.6
3-369-918-01 is SCY5.0 or SBO5.0

 

[RTM]

Thanks, gents! Will do...I'll be back in touch...

 

[AE_Stereo]

I see that Sony CFD-565 got a rotary equalizer, something that I always wondered - why no-one made equalizers so.
Being a newer generation model, but not too modern, it will be a reliable machine with simpler mechanism and circuits and easy to access.

 

[floyd]

There have Been rotary equalizers in the car audio industry dating all the way back to the seventies till present day.

 

[Tinman]

My CFD-555 had 3 rotary EQs, they seemed easier to adjust than sliders.
OP, if your 565 didn't come with a remote, you can pick one up for less than $10.
It's a nice selling point if you ever decide to get rid of it.

 

[RTM]

Thanks,Tinman! Does anyone happen to remember the MSRP?

 

[Radio raheem]

would like a pic...i had a couple of the top sony with rotary eq and they were better than any so called holy grails, can't think of mn but i will post a pic link f i can remember guys..edit.here it is

 

[RTM]

 

[RTM]

Here you go! I've finished going through it and it now works 100%. I had to refocus the laser (it was jittery and would mistrack with the slightest bump so that's fixed now) and change the belts. I put a fair amount of elbow grease into cleaning it up. (This is not my unit, this pic was pilfered from ePrey.)

I went into the speakers and discovered there was some UV rot around the edge of the woofer. I stress tested it and it broke through about 3/4", so...that's a giant step backward, lol. I took some really sticky gaffer's tape and patched it. The patch will likely outlast the rest of the wooferlet, now. But it's not invisible, so that's not good. I'm thinking about putting a want ad for donor 3.2ohm 4" whizzer cone woofer up. If anybody has one lying around please PM me! If anybody has a catalog with the MSRP of this unit in it, I'd like to know, even if only as a matter of curiosity. I have an original OM and remote for it, so even if it's not a $4K dollar box, I'm pretty happy with it...Thanks again, everyone...

 

[Mike Dragneff]

Hi RTM,
I just pulled my CFD-565 from the attic. Its been up there for many years. It was absolutely filthy and all I've done so far was clean it up a little so I don't catch some disease while working on it! The radio works great. I plugged in a BT receiver through the mixing mic port on the back and it works, a little static, but it worked! The CD player doesnt work and neither do the cassettes. I just found and downloaded the service manual and will crack it open to see if I can repair it. I already tried to test the CD by holding in the switch with a screwdriver and turning it on. The drive motor doesn't spin but the laser assembly does move as though its trying to locate a disc. I do not see any laser light however and I'm not sure if it is functioning. Does the motor spin immediately, or will it only spin if the laser has detected a disc? Once I crack it open I will see what is going on with the cassette deck. Neither side moves at all. Im not sure if its bad belts or motors.
Oddly I don't recall this ever having a remote with it yet the service manual clearly shows one. Does yours have a remote?
Thanks,
Mike

 

[Mike Dragneff]

Here is mine before clean up, fresh from the attic.