[BRAND
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Warning about Elite Backpanel Removal
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Tip from Mr Bob:
"If you have a Pioneer Elite, beware:
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DEFEAT THE
SPECIALLY CODED LOCK SCREWS AND ENTER THE UNIT BY TAKING THE BACK OFF!
To do so on most Elite units will cause the mirror to fall out of its upper slots, cut
a hellacious gash in the front screen, and possibly break the mirror.
ALWAYS GO IN TO A PIONEER RPTV THROUGH THE FRONT!
Usually the front frame is fairly readily removable, and after that, a few screws come
out, allowing the front screen sandwich to come off the chassis, revealing the lenses and
mirror, which need cleaning periodically.
The inner lenses also need cleaning periodically, involving lens removal."
Click here for for cleaning
tips.
More info about the backpanel from Mr Bob:
"WARNING! Elite: Don't remove back of optical cavity
Whatever you do, NEVER GO INTO THE OPTICAL CAVITY THRU THE BACK, ON AN ELITE UNIT!!!
You'll be digging a grave for yourself.
On the unit I experienced this on, there were a couple of weird, uncommon-head screws
holding the back on the unit, among the regular Philips head screws. DON'T DEFEAT THEM!
THEY ARE THERE TO PROTECT YOU FROM YOURSELF! A small flat edge screwdriver can be used to
circumvent them, but you'd be shooting yourself in the foot, just like I did on one of
them, just to be a smartypants and get in anyway.
Certain of the older ones - and possibly the newer ones, I don't know - have the bottom
edge of the mirror bracketed into the removable back, and the top edge bracketed into the
body of the TV itself.
You separate those by taking the back off the unit, and your mirror slips out of the
top one and does a nosedive straight into your fresnel screen!!! No way to stop in once
it's in the process. Once you actually know what you have done, and the damage is on the
way, there's nothing you can do to stop it, because you're standing there holding the
huge, bulky back of the optical cavity in your hands, which has just pushed backwards and
into your hips for some unknown - uh, oh - reason...
And it's big, heavy, and extremely ungainly. You're stuck with that huge pIEce of
plastic in your hands, and in that next microsecond you can't do anything but endure the
horror of what is about to take place, at your OWN doing. And it DOES then immediately
take place, right in front of your eyes.
I've seen it break the mirror and totally trash the fresnel screen, costing bundles.
ALWAYS GO INTO THE OPTICAL CAVITY FROM THE FRONT, on an Elite unit of ANY age, just to
be safe.
To go in thru the front:
The front's frame usually comes off via unscrewing the Philips head screws at the
bottom of the frame. You get to those screws by removing the ornate plastic plates that
say Pioneer, etc. on them, that are about a foot wide and an inch tall, forming the
cosmetics separating the screen above from the speaker grillcloth section below. One on
each side of the unit, you stick your fingers under them and they pull off easily if done
gently, once the speaker's grillcloth plate has been yanked off. That takes a little more
force...
The screen frame comes off by lifting it straight up or out at a 45d angle and then up.
This reveals the 2 layer screen sandwich: the fresnel closest to the mirror, the
lenticular facing the viewer.
The screws to remove this sandwich are then pretty obvious. The upper left corner's
holder will be the only one where you actually have to remove a screw. The others allow
their holders to be removed by just loosening up their screws a bit and de-slotting the
holders from them.
Be sure NOT to grab the screen by its attached aluminum brace at the top of the 2 layer
sandwich, laying horizontally. It is NOT attached - just laid on there for bracing and
derippling purposes - and the stack will fall out of your hands directly, if you try to
hold it via this piece of aluminum.
Also beware of turning this sandwich sideways once it's off. Keep it horizontal, or the
very flexible lenticular will have a tendency to waffle and bend in half on you, via
gravity. I had one split itself on the edge of the frame on its way to the ground once.
Cost a bundle to replace.
After you're in that far, I suggest that you perform my Cantilever Technique - found here and at
the Keohi Tips and Tweaks website - for the most comprehensive and exacting optical
focusing available, on any RPTV.
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