Sony "X7" ES CD players

For those with a bad memory, these players' names can be a bit confusing as there are 7s all over them ;-) The sequence, however, is simple and (almost) straightforward - Sony oblige.

Chronologically :
CDP-557ESD,
CDP-X7ESD,
CDP-X77ES,
CDP-X777ES
all had the big BU-10 aluminium die-cast base/pickup assembly also used in the reference CDP-R1 drive... and many Accuphase players.

The penultimate CDP-X779ES and ultimate CDP-X707ES used a different base, partly built on Sony's "G" composite material, also found on the updated CDP-R1a drive as well as in the Japan-only CDP-R3 integrated player... and many Accuphase players.

The BU-10 assembly is known to be of the "almost everlasting" kind : read "about ten years or more" of moderate but daily use. The revised & simplified assembly seems to have been somewhat less robust but still rahter sturdy : the fair majority of X779 and X707 are still playing to this day - more than ten years after their first spins ! On the other hand, the majority of the earlier units start to fail or have already expired...

Fifteen years of use -twenty for the original CDP-557ESD which was introduced in Japan in 1987- still sounds very much like quality to me. It just is a pity Sony didn't keep stocks of spare lasers because with a dead laser the whole player -however beautiful and expensive- becomes completely useless : no laser = no player.

Far from the Accuphase pricetags, no affordable High End has been made available since then that was built like the '88-'93 ES units - if you own one of these massive players, cherish it !

Click the thumbnails for respective overviews >>>

Note to X7 owners:
The lasers for the early "X7" players are NOT available anymore from Sony, whatever the country and however desperate you may be. The lasers for the last two units of the series (X779ES, X707ES) might still be obtainable by way of sly channels: either local distributor or, more likely, a repair shop that still has a stock of them hidden in a drawer.
If you own an X7 player that shows erratic behaviour(s), the only way to keep it running is to find another one (preferably one that hasn't seen much use!) take its optical block out and transplant it in yours or, more simply, use the "new" player instead of your original.

Keep in mind I : lasers do age and eventually die - there is no way around that.
Keep in mind II : I can NOT help you in in finding a spare laser block.