Cambridge Azur CD player, crud on circuit board.

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So, came into possession of a Cambridge azur 640C CD player from an acquaintance. It's been sitting since it started skipping. Haven't powered it up yet, thought I would look at the lens on the transport first and give it a clean.

Noticed this "stuff" on a couple of places on the circuit boards. Glue? Leaky caps? The rest of the inside is very clean.
CD640.jpg

It owes me nothing, and I'm only thinking of fixing it to pass onto a charity I do stuff with. Happy to put some effort into it, by all accounts a very good CD player. But thinking hours, not days ....

Thoughts?
 
Hmmmm, looks like close to 50 electrolytic caps in this puppy after a quick look at the service manual.

Have done some reading and it appears they used some cheap caps in it and they haven't lasted well ... Bought it up on my variac and no magic smoke, strange bubbling or weird smells. Ran it through some powered speakers for a couple of minutes, darn it sounds nice. My studio assistant even commented on it, which is rare. Switched it off and unplugged.

Might have to start pricing out a recap...
 
The brown substance on the circuit boards is glue that held the capacitors in place before the soldering was done.

The question about restoring this CD player really comes down to the question - Is the CD Laser Lens Assembly still available?

If it is, buy a spare and put it away, if it's not available the don't bother with the rebuild - Chris
 
The brown substance on the circuit boards is glue that held the capacitors in place before the soldering was done.

The question about restoring this CD player really comes down to the question - Is the CD Laser Lens Assembly still available?

If it is, buy a spare and put it away, if it's not available the don't bother with the rebuild - Chris
Concur with the glue.
 
The brown substance on the circuit boards is glue that held the capacitors in place before the soldering was done.

The question about restoring this CD player really comes down to the question - Is the CD Laser Lens Assembly still available?

If it is, buy a spare and put it away, if it's not available the don't bother with the rebuild - Chris

It looks like the laser is available, and not overly expensive. In fact I can get the entire transport assembly reasonably cheaply. Hmmmm. I think I might order the laser at least.
 
I have a silver one just like it. I also have and 740C. I love'm..

This one is silver as well. Well it is now that I have given it a bit of an external clean. It was filthy.

It sounded good when I ran it yesterday. Will give it a bit more time today through the main system and compare it it to my Naim player.
 
My 740C is black. Both damn good sounding units Twin Wolfson DAC's on both models.
 
The glue is really eating corroding the diodes and looks like it totally rusted that Phillips head screw. Looks like the same stuff Yamaha used nasty stuff, get it cleaned up when you do your recap.
 
That glue (I think) starts out as NON-CONDUCTIVE while it is a lighter colored (think yellow mustard) but as it ages (turns darker in color) it MAY start to be conductive AND corrosive!

Mark T. :music:
 
OK, so cleaning up the glue, any suggestions?

The glue is fairly stretchy and when you desolder the capacitors some of the glue will pull away when you remove the capacitor.. The remaining glue can be pulled off the board with small needle nose pliers.

Acetone on a swab will dissolve the glue somewhat and make it easier to remove the small pieces that are left.

For the larger areas, you can use a wide, flat x-acto blade (#17) to scrape the glue off. Keep the blade fairly flat on the board so you don't gouge the surface of the board - Chris
 
Seeing as we have established that the caps aren't leaking I have had the player going for a while now. It does sound nice, more top end than the Naim 5i I have. Very good on stuff with a lot of strings. Starting to think I might keep it a bit longer. And research some upgrades for it. Could be fun to play with and experiment on.

Not that I need another distraction right now ...
 
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