Thanks @Rolf, you just saved me a trip to the garage to dig up my own dcc91 
=== Jac
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Interesting. I used a flashlight to illuminate the red plastic front panel so I could see inside the unit without actually opening the chassis. On my DCC-91, there is a circular area in the plastic under which one would expect to find an IR sensor. If my unit was a DCC-450, that circular area would be located beneath the IR Logo. However, I don’t see an actual IR sensor located in the circular area on my DC-91 (Just a place in the plastic where one would expect to find an IR sensor). Since the DC-91 and DC-450 are so similar, it’s possible that the same red plastic panel was used for both units, even though the DCC-450 has a sensor and the DC-91 does not.
There are three possibilities.
- There is no IR sensor on this model because the sensor is located in other components of the system.
- There is an IR sensor but I’m not seeing it and it’s damaged or missing.
- There is variation between units and Philips changed the DCC-91 and some have a sensor in them and others don’t
Rolf/Jac does the DCC Museum have the schematic for the DC-91? It would show if there’s an IR sensor or not.
If there is no schematic, I may open up the unit to really inspect the components.
Kind regards
-Mark
The combined DCC91/DCC450 service manual (including schematics which go beyond my current knowledge) is available on the website: Philips DCC91 | DCC Museum
Most definitely the reason why there’s no sensor in the DCC91 is that it’s intended to be used with the FW91 system. The DCC91 was a separate purchase from the system so you could add it later (I have the manual for the system and it doesn’t give information about the DCC recorder; it just refers to the DCC recorder manual).
It made no sense to put a remote control in the DCC recorder because the DCC recorder had to be connected to the system remote bus to use functions such as CD-Synchro and the function that the amplifier automatically turns on when you operate one of the signal sources. Philips made a big deal out of their smart remote control system.
They could have put a remote control receiver into the DCC recorder so that the recorder could have been used with other systems. But I bet this way it was cheaper to build the recorder. I bet the DCC-91 didn’t come with a remote control (the FW91 system remote has DCC functions) so they could sell the DCC91 for the same price as the DCC450 even though it was probably $20 cheaper to build. And that adds up to a lot of money if you sell thousands of them.
There could be a technical reason too: With two remote receivers in a system that’s connected together via a bus, it’s possible that small differences in specifications between the infrared receivers will cause jitter, so that the timing of the signals on the bus ends up being “off” a little bit, and more difficult to interpret for the microcontrollers in all the connected systems. I admit, this is not a good argument because I had a Philips stereo system for years that had two remote receivers (one in an EM2200 external receiver and one in the CD player that I bought after I bought the rest of the system) and I never had any problems with them. I think there was some Philips equipment that had a switch on the back to turn the internal remote receiver off, though.
You can download the service manual for the DCC-91 / DCC-450 from my website.
===Jac
Hi Rolf
Thanks. That solved the issue in 2 seconds. The service manual indicates that the IR sensor is in model 450 only, not 91. (See below from service manual)
)
It appears the remote for the whole system of components is in the amplifier which I don’t own, so I think I’m out of luck.
Anyway, thanks for the help.
-Mark
If you have a Philips CD player with a remote control sensor, you can probably connect its RC5 bus to the EasyLink bus of the DCC-91. You’d still need the remote control though…
===Jac
Something like this would be the perfect addition: Philips Stereoanlage mit CD-91, FT-91 , FA-91 zu verkaufen in Bayern - Schweinfurt | Stereoanlage gebraucht kaufen | eBay Kleinanzeigen (if it comes with the remote).
No remote control though, from the looks of it.
The FW91 is a great little stereo, I highly recommend it. It has very reasonable features, good firmware and good sound.
===Jac
The same issue was with the CD 480 and 481,
The latter had an IR sensor where the former needed it’s RC-5 bus
connected to an external sensor or a device with sensor.
I recall when I got mine, I went to Radoma which was the Utrecht repair service for
Philips back in the 80’s. I copied the service manual. It showed 3 parts missing from
the front panel of the 480. So I bought the required parts and a remote and installed them,
to upgrade my 480 to a 481.
(Fond memories, it was my first CD player)