Topic: Toshiba 3960 Mods

[pjl100001]

Just picked up myself a Toshiba 3960 dvd player for only $50.  I already have a fine dvd player but at that price, I couldnt say no.  Now what kind of mods can I do to this to improve the signal?  If anyone can help me out or just point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it.

[caymanreview]

is it a 3960, or happen to be a 4960? i know there is info on mods for the 4960 around here

if you found a 4960 for 50$ id be interested in a lead as to where so i can get one myself!

[Daryan]

I have the answers.  The first thing I need to know, is whether or not you have any experience modifying pcb boards and or soldering?  If so, I can be of much more help.  LMK, and I will post links to everything you need, and or walk you through the process.  The mods on the 4960 are almost exactly the same as the 3950/60, except the boards are different, and the placement of parts/wires on the pcb is different.  The 39xx series is much easier fwiw.  Or, you could always pay someone 200 bucks to do it for you, though I wouldn't!  Last ?ion, what is the primary use of the player for?  If you are going to all the trouble, the 4960 plays dvd-a, which is a huge part opf why I bought it.

Daryan

[Jason B]

I have the answers.  The first thing I need to know, is whether or not you have any experience modifying pcb boards and or soldering?  If so, I can be of much more help.  LMK, and I will post links to everything you need, and or walk you through the process.  The mods on the 4960 are almost exactly the same as the 3950/60, except the boards are different, and the placement of parts/wires on the pcb is different.  The 39xx series is much easier fwiw.  Or, you could always pay someone 200 bucks to do it for you, though I wouldn't!  Last ?ion, what is the primary use of the player for?  If you are going to all the trouble, the 4960 plays dvd-a, which is a huge part opf why I bought it.

Daryan

Just a heads up, but if there is *anyone* on the face of the *earth* that you SHOULD NOT take soldering and/or electronic "repair" advice from, it is Daryan.

[Nick in Edinboro]

I have the answers.  The first thing I need to know, is whether or not you have any experience modifying pcb boards and or soldering?  If so, I can be of much more help.  LMK, and I will post links to everything you need, and or walk you through the process.  The mods on the 4960 are almost exactly the same as the 3950/60, except the boards are different, and the placement of parts/wires on the pcb is different.  The 39xx series is much easier fwiw.  Or, you could always pay someone 200 bucks to do it for you, though I wouldn't!  Last ?ion, what is the primary use of the player for?  If you are going to all the trouble, the 4960 plays dvd-a, which is a huge part opf why I bought it.

Daryan

Just a heads up, but if there is *anyone* on the face of the *earth* that you SHOULD NOT take soldering and/or electronic "repair" advice from, it is Daryan.

An Error Has Occurred!

Sorry, you can't repeat a karma action without waiting 12 hours.

[Daryan]

Here's a headsup...I modified mine and it works like a charm.  And yeah, I certainly deserve a negative whatever for trying to help. 

[jpschust]

Here's a headsup...I modified mine and it works like a charm.  And yeah, I certainly deserve a negative whatever for trying to help. 

daryan, not raggin on you here man, but you don't have the best reputation for soldering.  remember a minime or 3?

[Jason B]

Here's a headsup...I modified mine and it works like a charm. 

Wow, so witty you are... 

[Nick in Edinboro]

The minime:

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Here's a headsup...I modified mine and it works like a charm.  And yeah, I certainly deserve a negative whatever for trying to help. 

Speaking only as a semi-amused bystander, I think that you might mitigate the tendency of people to post deragatory warnings if you were to offer your advice in the form of links to credible references on the web.


I can sympathize.  On another board, I gave some incorrect advice regarding butt plugs and it was a long time before the affected people forgave me.  I spent years having to meticulously detail references to back up my statements. 

Actually, I just made all that up.  I have never given bad butt plug advice.

[jpschust]

Here's a headsup...I modified mine and it works like a charm.  And yeah, I certainly deserve a negative whatever for trying to help. 

Speaking only as a semi-amused bystander, I think that you might mitigate the tendency of people to post deragatory warnings if you were to offer your advice in the form of links to credible references on the web.


I can sympathize.  On another board, I gave some incorrect advice regarding butt plugs and it was a long time before the affected people forgave me.  I spent years having to meticulously detail references to back up my statements. 

Actually, I just made all that up.  I have never given bad butt plug advice.

+T.  water on monitor.

[Daryan]

The mini-me kept blowing up because I reversed polarity on the batery end twice by mistake, it was purely my fault, and one time a quick attempt at a show to fix the battery because the solder point on the battery had come off from so much stress, and the other time a reversed adaptaplug which was my fault.  The links are on my home computer as far as modding, I just don't have them in my favorites here.  And mine works like a charm, you can see the pics of what I did in the rig pictures section on here. 

[Daryan]

Here's the first one, found this one by searching"

http://home.nc.rr.com/keihin/toshiba3950/vinniemods.htm

If you need help, let me know.  This is essentially what I did to my 4960


I will post the swenson mods in a second.

[Daryan]

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?s=fe199c5354d645a9c9d98a25e913e0ac&t=70377&page=1&pp=25

http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/t.pl?f=digital&m=82177

Finally found the swenson instructions:

http://johnswenson1.home.comcast.net/3950_mod/Toshiba_3950_3960_mods.html

Again, if you need some help, just ask.

Daryan

[jpschust]

The mini-me kept blowing up because I reversed polarity on the batery end twice by mistake, it was purely my fault, and one time a quick attempt at a show to fix the battery because the solder point on the battery had come off from so much stress, and the other time a reversed adaptaplug which was my fault.  The links are on my home computer as far as modding, I just don't have them in my favorites here.  And mine works like a charm, you can see the pics of what I did in the rig pictures section on here. 

what about those poorly soldered cables you sent out to others as well?

reversing polarity is a pretty big deal man.

[Daryan]

I am not aware of any bad cables with the exception of one that I sent to Trey Woodruff, and promtly gave him all of his money back.   You can ask him if you would like, I am sure he can verify.  I know it is a big deal, yet it had nothing at all to do with soldering so I am not sure why it is anyone's issue but my own?

[jpschust]

I am not aware of any bad cables with the exception of one that I sent to Trey Woodruff, and promtly gave him all of his money back.   You can ask him if you would like, I am sure he can verify.  I know it is a big deal, yet it had nothing at all to do with soldering so I am not sure why it is anyone's issue but my own?

there was a report of you making xlrs for someone (caymanreview maybe, it has been a bit but i can dig up the thread if you really want) and they were full of noise from bad soldering.

when you offer soldering advice after making a major mistake or 2 destroying thousands of dollars worth of gear it is a big deal and it becomes everyone's issue when you do it here.

[Ed.]

I can sympathize.  On another board, I gave some incorrect advice regarding butt plugs and it was a long time before the affected people forgave me.  I spent years having to meticulously detail references to back up my statements. 

Actually, I just made all that up.  I have never given bad butt plug advice.

haha, +t for making me laugh my ass off.

i too am just a bystander, but i'd like to offer a little advice.
Daryan, i have no idea who you are, you've never screwed me over nor have you did me any wrong.  as far as i know, i've never -t'd you, infact i think once i even +t'd you cuz you helped me out on some other issue.  but at this stage in the game, you've pissed a lot of people off and it doesn't look like they're going to forgive you.  my advice, be nice to people, and don't offer to help if you really can't help.  in this situation, those webby's are really handy, so i think you're ok.  i dunno, bridges have been burnt, but you can always build new ones.

and that was my deep thought of the day.

i see best buy has the 3960 but no 4960.  bastards!

[Daryan]

It was my mistake, and my gear, I guess I still don't get it and as I said, it had nothing to do with soldering.  And, just for arguement's sake, the damage was more like 125 bucks to Gary at apogee.  Dustin and I are quite close for having never met, so I surely hope he would have said something to me if something was bad...

Hope the links help.  You can find the 4960 on froogle for 112.00 shipped I think it was.  I thought I was helping...

[zhianosatch]

FUCKING BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, BITCH!
you can't excape the

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

[caymanreview]

I am not aware of any bad cables with the exception of one that I sent to Trey Woodruff, and promtly gave him all of his money back.   You can ask him if you would like, I am sure he can verify.  I know it is a big deal, yet it had nothing at all to do with soldering so I am not sure why it is anyone's issue but my own?

there was a report of you making xlrs for someone (caymanreview maybe, it has been a bit but i can dig up the thread if you really want) and they were full of noise from bad soldering.

when you offer soldering advice after making a major mistake or 2 destroying thousands of dollars worth of gear it is a big deal and it becomes everyone's issue when you do it here.

i dont believe it was me. a looong time ago i bought some blue kiwi cables (2 summers ago) from someone (no idea who) and they had a cold solder joint. but that wasnt anyones fault neccessarily. i had used them a few times before i noticed problems

[jpschust]

ok ill need to figure out who it was, like i said i wasnt sure, so ill find the thread later tonight.  still at work.

[Brian Skalinder]

It was my mistake, and my gear, I guess I still don't get it and as I said, it had nothing to do with soldering.  And, just for arguement's sake, the damage was more like 125 bucks to Gary at apogee.  Dustin and I are quite close for having never met, so I surely hope he would have said something to me if something was bad...

Hope the links help.  You can find the 4960 on froogle for 112.00 shipped I think it was.  I thought I was helping...

[caymanreview]

ok ill need to figure out who it was, like i said i wasnt sure, so ill find the thread later tonight.  still at work.

NP!

[Craig T]

i see best buy has the 3960 but no 4960.  bastards!

I have a practically brand new 4960 that I would sell for $100 shipped.  I only played one DVD-A in it.  I bought it to mess with the tweaks, but just don't have the time.

-Craig.

[jpschust]

ok ill need to figure out who it was, like i said i wasnt sure, so ill find the thread later tonight.  still at work.

NP!

i need to push off this search til the weekend, i'm busy with work, though i think my point has been made.

[caymanreview]

ok ill need to figure out who it was, like i said i wasnt sure, so ill find the thread later tonight.  still at work.

NP!

i need to push off this search til the weekend, i'm busy with work, though i think my point has been made.

i see your point. but truthfully im not worried about it. there may be others who are i guess. i ony buy homebrewed cables from one person these days

[Chris K]

i bought some purple canare cables with right angle neutric connectors from daryan. i went through 2 shows that are now unlistenable because there was noise on of the channels and/or interemittant cut-outs in each show. turns out there was a short on the soldering of the cables to the connectors. i opened up the connector and couldnt believe what i saw.  it was a mess in there. it looked like a blind person had soldered the connections. i had to resolder the cables myself and added heat shrink wrap, and now they work fine.

not condemning anyone here...it was a lesson learned. and in retrospect it helped me to learn about xlr cable making, having only made 1/4" cables for my guitars before. i have made a few more sets of xlr cables since from the knowledge i gained repairing these cables.

[jpschust]

thanks for not making me search +T