Keeping a CD in the CD player?

eickmewg

Well-Known Member
I have heard/read that keeping a CD stored in a CD player helps to keep the laser lens clean. Wives tale or audio truth? I have a Cambridge Audio CD transport that started having trouble reading a couple of CDs. Getting to the laser mechanism would be a real job. So I opened the tray and gave it a good shot of compressed air which did the trick. Maybe keeping a CD in the transport when it is idle would be a good idea.
 
Sounds like a reasonable idea to me. Anything that keeps dust away from the laser can't be a bad thing.
 
Also helps if you've got "sticky drawer syndrome". Push the button, it cycles, but doesn't open? Come to find out, it's the hub lock that's sticking. I found out that keeping a blank DVDr in the drive when I'm not using it stops that. WindoHs! won't try to load a blank when I fire up the HTPC, and I haven't had a drawer stick since.

PS - I do the same thing with my Oppo deck.
 
Also helps if you've got "sticky drawer syndrome". Push the button, it cycles, but doesn't open? Come to find out, it's the hub lock that's sticking. I found out that keeping a blank DVDr in the drive when I'm not using it stops that. WindoHs! won't try to load a blank when I fire up the HTPC, and I haven't had a drawer stick since.

PS - I do the same thing with my Oppo deck.
Any disc upside-down will probably work. What happens after this stops helping? I have reached this point. Maybe buy anew drive from newegg for $15?
 
I can't see how. I'd say urban myth.

I'm guessing, but I think the basic idea is that the laser is positioned just under the CD and reads it from underneath, so if you leave a CD in there all the time, it makes it far more difficult for dust to settle onto the laser. Never heard this before, but I suppose it's possible -- not that I'm likely to start doing this from now on . . . ;)
 
Maybe helps in dusty environments, how much is an unknown I would think as the dust first needs to get inside the case. Unless It's a slot loader.
 
Drives aren't what one would call hermetically sealed, and dust goes wherever it wants to ... ;-}

An occasional spin of a lens cleaner disk (the ones with a small brush) works wonders for keeping things tidy.
 
I just donated an old Samsung BDP (because I decided to buy a used Oppo 95 that also had component video outs, the only reason I had the Samsung) that had a notorious mechanism that would fail so the drawer would jam shut unless you kept a disc in all the time. I found a replacement mech in a thrift store in a lower end model but never could get the miserable thing to connect to my network and Samsung didn't even have a support page for that model so I couldn't download updated firmware... So to Value Village it went and good riddance.
 
Drives aren't what one would call hermetically sealed, and dust goes wherever it wants to ... ;-}

An occasional spin of a lens cleaner disk (the ones with a small brush) works wonders for keeping things tidy.
This is true :cool: though in 5 years i haven't needed to clean the lens in my old Marantz CD-65 yet.

Maybe i will soon after stating this :rflmao: but I do it using a cotton bud.
 
I have an old but very good Onkyo DX-706. If I turn it on after it being off for a day, it takes forever to start reading newly inserted discs. However, if I leave a disc in the tray, when I turn it on again it reads it instantly. I have no idea why this works, but hey...:dunno:

Cheers,
Larry B.
 
Also helps if you've got "sticky drawer syndrome". Push the button, it cycles, but doesn't open? Come to find out, it's the hub lock that's sticking. I found out that keeping a blank DVDr in the drive when I'm not using it stops that. WindoHs! won't try to load a blank when I fire up the HTPC, and I haven't had a drawer stick since.

PS - I do the same thing with my Oppo deck.
I used to have a Carver 490T and it really was great player but developed the same frustrating problem with the drawer sticking and I too discovered that leaving the last disk I listened to in it really did solve the sticky drawer problem.
Worked every time.
 
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