Hi Mattybumpkin, I am not a tech, maybe someone else can reply, but I have replaced a half dozen optical assembly's, most recently in an NAD cd player, it was a Sony optical assembly and yes, on 5 out of 6 of the units that I have done had two solder joints on the rear with solder adjoining them. In the past, I owned my own stereo store and had no problem getting the advice on where to find it. I can now look at a board and find it... I know that I'm really no help, but to confirm that you will have to remove solder. The good news is that if you don't remove it, nothing will blow up, it just won't work until removed. Good Luck, Tim