# Alpine 7909 "Do not go gentle into that good night"



## jeffp (Jan 18, 2015)

I have been doing full restorations on the 7909 specifically, and any other unit anyone wanted repaired, amps, radios, eq's whatever someone wanted.

The 7909 is my favorite, out of all the other radios it is the one uit I like the best, over McIntosh, denon, clarion, all of them.

I have come to a difficult bump in the road, the kss-163A optical pickup is nowhere to be found anymore. I have had my last two orders from different vendors canceled by the vendors, they are just GONE!

So no new pickups, no more restorations. Well I am not going to just give up. Being the optical engineer that I am, and having considerable experience with electronics, lasers, optics, I have decided it was time to find out what the laser being used in the pickup was. I think I may have found the component. I have ordered 10pcs. 
Now the fun begins, installing a new laser diode, aligning the laser and making the pickup work again. The focus lens suspension is another matter, but I think I have that handled as well. I have been able to disassemble the focus lens and make the suspension work very well again. 
I have not replaced a laser yet, but if I can swing it, I am going to build a test fixture for the pickup and get this down to a science, and really do some cool repair work on the lasers. 
From what I can determine, the only thing that will really make a laser pickup unrepairable, would be a scratched focus lens, and damaged focus and tracking windings on the focus lens assembly, but those seldom go bad. 

I will not be Denied LOL. I do think the cost of the restored units are going to go up though, the pickup repair is a time consuming part, but if I can support the repairs then I'm golden, and I will get this going. 
So what I am saying in a nutshell the sony kss series of pickups are repairable, a pain in the butt, but lets see. 
I will know for sure when I get the laser diode and test it.


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## HardCoreDore (Apr 30, 2014)

jeffp said:


> I have been doing full restorations on the 7909 specifically, and any other unit anyone wanted repaired, amps, radios, eq's whatever someone wanted.
> 
> The 7909 is my favorite, out of all the other radios it is the one uit I like the best, over McIntosh, denon, clarion, all of them.
> 
> ...


Hell yeah man! I'm an Eclipse man, but I just wanted to comment on your awesome ingenuity. Keep it up brother!  

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk


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## badwhip (Jun 19, 2009)

jeff does some outstanding work and is really dedicated to getting these to better then factory working.


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## vinman (Feb 5, 2013)

Is there anybody else worldwide who is so dedicated and has accomplished 
such feats on the 7909 while sharing his discoveries openly ?

I've searched the net often for this kind of info in the last 10 years and I have not found anybody 

The people that have climbed K2 pale in accomplishment comparisons ....ehehe

Sad to think of all the repairable units that ended in a landfill over the years 
just because other techies have given up 

In today's disposable society Jeff's insistence is quite remarkable , I dare to say right up there with the Edisons and Pasteurs of the world :bowdown:

Next time I'm in NV .......... dinner's on me Jeff !

Cheers ...... Vin


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## badwhip (Jun 19, 2009)

it's hard to find people to work on older deck because parts are hard to come buy so you have to spend extra time researching or engineering newer parts to work. sometime you have to use donor parts etc making it more time consuming but this deck is worth all the effort.


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## DC/Hertz (Nov 27, 2011)

There's a alpine collectors page on facebook. I've seen a few on their fix these.


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## ryanr7386 (Feb 21, 2011)

I Declare Sir, you are "Mr 7909" !

Thanks for sharing all that you do on this Unit!


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## jeffp (Jan 18, 2015)

I was a little upset when all of the optical pickups were no longer to be found. I ended up spending a significant amount of money on 25pcs. You will see them from an outfit out of UK for 150.00 So I am guessing one company decided to make the investment and buy all of the remaining shock in the world. I really don't think Sony is going to make any more parts. 
I have looked into getting the lasers, for the pickups. I bought a ROHM part that did not work, a sharp part that did not work. Then it dawned on me, sony being the company they are, and being among the pioneers in cd's WHY would they buy a competitor component for their pickup. Then I am working on a sony cd player CDX-R88 (what a nightmare that unit is) and they listed the laser type on the service manual. That unit uses a kss-160B laser, the same laser as the KSS-163A but with a different ribbon/flex cable. 
So ran down that rabbit hole, and I may have found the correct laser. I will find out when I get a pickup that is funky, not that I don't have any, but I want to start with a laser that the ONLY component replaced is the laser, that way I can get it aligned without to much trouble, at least that is the theory.

So if anyone has a sony CDX-R88 that works they want to part with let me know. I got the unit working, but the cd just will not come on line, that thing is starting to piss me off LOL SONY!
I will be able to support the 7909 and all the other top end head units as well , Calrion, McIntosh, Alpine, (NOT SONY! LOL) pi0oneer and kenwood units. The most popular are the alpine and McIntosh and clarion. 
I think I did find the correct Sony laser for the job, we will see.


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## jeffp (Jan 18, 2015)

ok after much time and trouble, and parts buying I have come up with a solution to the obsolete kss-163A laser, hell with the blasted thing. 
I have a design that I am currently testing and everything looks excellent, so long story short, I can still support the 7909 and all its good sound. 

Don't ask me what I did, I will not tell anyone after some of the shenanigans the last couple weeks with people who are trying to sell units cheaper then what I sell them for, and then tell the customers to go to me for work and parts. 
I get all the liability when I work on the unit, and the guy really did not get a deal after I have completed my work, in fact they get less for the same price all said and done.
One thing you can be assured of when you buy my units.
1) you get warranty on your unit, no questions asked, unless it is obvious you did some damage to the unit.
2) the best looking unit you will find anywhere. I take time on the looks of my units, they do look new, and I go even farther and utilize new methods like powder coat instead of paint.
3)COMPLETE WIRE HARNESSES, not some hacked to death harness that every body and their brother cut on, little nub for the power antenna or amp remote to mention a couple wires.
4) upgraded units that sound BETTER then the factory unit did new and that I am very proud of.
5) Scalable to todays cars with blue tooth, aux input and Ipod/phone interface.
6) additional audio upgrades that make is so you can turn the unit up all the way with no or minimal distortion with upgraded burr brown 627 op amps.

So that is about it, oh yea, I almost forgot, the unit will also play an HDCD, blew me away, I have some hdcd's and I popped one in my j unit, and sure enough, the cd was spinning twice as fast with the higher sample rate of the HDCD. So you MX5000, and HX-D1 guys don't have ANYTHING on my ALPINE 7909! BUWAAH LOL.


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## ryanr7386 (Feb 21, 2011)

Congratulations Jeff! I know you were concerned about the compatibility issue. Good Job!


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