Troubleshooting CD Players

I know what you mean but I have no idea where you could get a replacement mechanism. Contact the manufacturer. Replacement mechanisms for currently available home CD players run around $200, so I would expect these to be about the same, if they are available. I suggest replacing the entire unit with an aftermarket unit as a more cost effective solution.
 
The first thing to do here is swap out the connecting cables to the laser, with the working unit. Sometimes a wire goes open or there is a bad crimp on the connector. If that isn't it, it's either the rf amp IC or the servo IC, neither of which is likely to be available.

Hi dr*audio,

Many thanks for your help a couple of months ago with my Kenwood CD player :)

I believe I have fixed it now, in part due to your advice. There seems to have been a few issues with this thing. First, I checked the passives around the RF/servo IC, and noted that a couple of the capacitors were marginal (not surprising after 25 years). I replaced all the electrolytics around this IC, and this resulted in the unit working -- intermittently. It would be fine, then if you tapped the PCB around the RF IC it would stop, or if you flexed the PCB a little, or if you just played it for a while, eventually it would stop working and the unit would go back to not getting focus lock.

So I then retouched all the solder points around the area and on the power supply section, which if anything made things worse -- although I did notice a broken joint around the linear regulator IC which can't have been helping the situation.

Finally, and this is something I'd been putting off as I've not really done anything with surface mount stuff, I reflowed the RF IC. Surprisingly easy job as it turned out, and the unit is now working fine, there must have been at least one broken solder point on the IC.

The player still seems a bit 'picky' -- there are a small minority of discs (mostly pressed ones, oddly) that it either will focus on and read the TOC and then struggle or fail to read, or occasionally not find lock on, but most discs work 100%. I'm guessing this is because the FE/TE bias pots are now out after I messed around with them (I know, bad move). Next phase I guess will be to get the scope out and learn how to calibrate this thing...

All a great learning experience, even if I've spent far more time on this old beast than its value would warrant :D

Thanks again!
 
I'd love to get my two Carver CD players working at 100% again. I really like the way my DTL-100 sounds, and I'd like to put it back into service...

Charles.
 
Well, I figured out the problem with my Carver TL-3100. It was the clamp! One spring was missing and the other was stretched. It was hard finding springs that weren't too stiff, so that the door could still open, but I cannibalized an old tape deck and found a couple springs in there that worked nicely. The deck is back to playing now, and I'll bet weak springs are the problem in the DTL-100 too. So I'll be opening her up for some repair here shortly as well!

Charles.
 
Hello everybody,

here I am after a whole summer I took an afternoon to dedicate to my old but beloved Sony CDP-X505ES, at the beginning it was the tray not to close, I got a new belt and it got fixed but the player refused to read disks :-(

I will cut the story short, I reopened it, removed the tray, cleaned the lens above the laser and the laser itself with a soft ear cleaning stick, I did remove some solidified dust off the axle where the pick-up slides on, applied some of the same grease I use on photo camera equipment, applied grease also on the magnetic clamp which keeps the disc on place whilst playing, made sure all the screws are tightened (read that some unbalance could create reading problems), mounted it all back besides the top cover, insert a disc and the TOC shows in a split second then the disc quits spinning, when I hit the play button the disc spins continuously but no music, as a matter of chance I reopened the tray, tighten all the screws again and now it reads but then gets stuck, accidentally I lifted it from the front and after a few seconds it keeps working fine to then stop again and working again after re-lifting the front, as if something impedes the pickup to freely slide along the axle now my concern is, since the axle is well cleaned and greased what else might be impeding its moving if that's the cause? There are two magnetic tracks where the mechanism of the pickup slides through, are those also prone to get dirt? If so how to clean them?

Attaching url of a video of what happens when I insert a disc and hit play, the video doesn't feature what happens when I lift the player's front and then it starts/continues to play

 
Hello everybody,

here I am after a whole summer I took an afternoon to dedicate to my old but beloved Sony CDP-X505ES, at the beginning it was the tray not to close, I got a new belt and it got fixed but the player refused to read disks :-(

I will cut the story short, I reopened it, removed the tray, cleaned the lens above the laser and the laser itself with a soft ear cleaning stick, I did remove some solidified dust off the axle where the pick-up slides on, applied some of the same grease I use on photo camera equipment, applied grease also on the magnetic clamp which keeps the disc on place whilst playing, made sure all the screws are tightened (read that some unbalance could create reading problems), mounted it all back besides the top cover, insert a disc and the TOC shows in a split second then the disc quits spinning, when I hit the play button the disc spins continuously but no music, as a matter of chance I reopened the tray, tighten all the screws again and now it reads but then gets stuck, accidentally I lifted it from the front and after a few seconds it keeps working fine to then stop again and working again after re-lifting the front, as if something impedes the pickup to freely slide along the axle now my concern is, since the axle is well cleaned and greased what else might be impeding its moving if that's the cause? There are two magnetic tracks where the mechanism of the pickup slides through, are those also prone to get dirt? If so how to clean them?

Attaching url of a video of what happens when I insert a disc and hit play, the video doesn't feature what happens when I lift the player's front and then it starts/continues to play

Do not use any kind of grease on the rails. Use a light oil only, like Dupont Oil with
Teflon or Tri-Flow. Clean all that grease off with alcohol and apply a few drops of oil. When you tilt the player front to back with the power off the pickup should slide back and forth by itself.
 
Hello Dr*audio,

I was impatiently waiting for your reply, so, the mechanism slides back and forth kinda smooth, will remove the little layer of thin grease I applied (that's the same kind I use to lube my camera gear, it's not a thick one) but the doubt now is, there is a lock mechanism in the bottom part of the pickup slide towards the front of the player, it's a clip which I hi light in the attached pic with the tip of a screwdriver, this clip is supposed to keep the pickup in place, if I manually slide the pickup into it then the player reads the TOC and plays when I lift the front of the player (as to allow the pickup to slide, my guess), if you say that on power off the pickup has to freely slide how should this retaining mechanism work, should the pickup be locked in on power off or what?

Thank you


image-3295_57F35CB3.jpg
 
Never saw one that has an auto locking feature like that. For testing purposes you need to defeat it to make sure the pickup slides freely. Also make sure the lock disengages when the player is playing. That could be the problem.
 
So, I pulled the pickup in the locked position, switch the player off and it remains engaged, when on and tray is closed the pickup is free to slide and unlocked, still, the TOC gets read in a second but when I hit the play button it spins and spins then speed stabilizes but the counter doesn't advance :-(
 
I think you have a problem with the sled drive. Get a schematic and check the output of the sled drive amp.
 
So I picked up a decent condition Kyocera DA-410CX for little money, because the door wouldn't open and the wooden sides are in rough shape. The door was fixed with a new belt, and I'll veneer the sides in white oak to match my other silver faced gear.

The problem I have is this: I have a disc with some regular marks on it. It plays fine in my modern DVD players. In this Kyocera it skips constantly. What's more when I hold down the FF button it seeks forward a little, and then actually goes in reverse.

With a perfect cd it plays and seeks properly without any problems. Only with a regularly scratched cd does it have problems. What could be the cause/solution for this?

Charles.
 
So I picked up a decent condition Kyocera DA-410CX for little money, because the door wouldn't open and the wooden sides are in rough shape. The door was fixed with a new belt, and I'll veneer the sides in white oak to match my other silver faced gear.

The problem I have is this: I have a disc with some regular marks on it. It plays fine in my modern DVD players. In this Kyocera it skips constantly. What's more when I hold down the FF button it seeks forward a little, and then actually goes in reverse.

With a perfect cd it plays and seeks properly without any problems. Only with a regularly scratched cd does it have problems. What could be the cause/solution for this?

Charles.
I would perform all the calibration adjustments, but keep in mind that some of the older players were never very good at playing dirty or damaged CDs to begin with. In the old days any review of a CD player included a playability test. Sony players always passed this with flying colors, many others did not.
 
The weird thing is, this player skips unlike any CD player I've ever owned. I can only hear skipping in the quiet passages. The music itself never skips, I just get a tick-tick-tick-tick on scratched discs. It doesn't sound horrible, like most skipping CD players do. Actually tapping the CD player itself doesn't skip the CD, even if I tap really hard. I have to tap the drawer itself (which is coupled to the suspension) in order to *really* skip the player. That will cause it to jump to another location on the disc. But that's not what I'm experiencing normally, with a scratched disc I'm just getting a cyclic low-volume ticking.

I'll try marking the pots and adjusting stuff.

Charles.
 
Well, this is odd. I was able to adjust the EF balance so that it stopped skipping on a scratched CD. However, that made the FF issue worse -- it does it now on an unscratched disc. I'll actually RW instead of FF. I can't adjust the EF balance so that a scratched disc fast-forwards properly. It'll stop seeking to tracks before it reaches that point. I also can't adjust the EF balance so that FF works on good discs and scratched discs play without skipping. Has to be one or the other. I'd rather scratched discs play fine, I almost never use the FF functionality. So, that's how it's adjusted now.

There's only one other pot on the main board, labeled focus. I didn't mess with it though.

Charles.
 
Well, this is odd. I was able to adjust the EF balance so that it stopped skipping on a scratched CD. However, that made the FF issue worse -- it does it now on an unscratched disc. I'll actually RW instead of FF. I can't adjust the EF balance so that a scratched disc fast-forwards properly. It'll stop seeking to tracks before it reaches that point. I also can't adjust the EF balance so that FF works on good discs and scratched discs play without skipping. Has to be one or the other. I'd rather scratched discs play fine, I almost never use the FF functionality. So, that's how it's adjusted now.

There's only one other pot on the main board, labeled focus. I didn't mess with it though.

Charles.
The proper way to adjust this is with a scope. With no scope you'll just mess it up worse. What you have with the ticking is not skipping, it's unrecoverable data.
 
Hi all! I'm ready to pull my hair out so here I am. My mother has a Sony MHC-GX880 that cost a small fortune. We have sent it to Sony for repair once (super expensive), and when we got it back some problems were fixed, some broke right away again. It recently stopped reading CDs...it would spin, then say no disc. I bought a replacement optical lens (KSS213DH) from a Sony recommended distributor and installed it. I did NOT replace the whole assembly of gears and spindle and frame, just the lens. I don't have a soldering tool.) I can't get the laser to move from the extreme rear position (toward the back of the unit) to the front to read the disc. Even if I move it manually to the spindle, it reverts back to the rear and stays there if I try to read a CD. I've read the earlier threads about a home switch, but have NO idea where the heck that is. I do have the service manual, and it doesn't reference any switch like the one you refer to. Can anyone help me find out where this switch is or why it won't move the lens to the CD to read it? Super thankful for any assistance....she wanted this fixed for Christmas and ugh......you know.

Shannon
 
I just wanted to follow up on my Technics Sl-p1200 escapade as i found no solutions to the motor not spinning up when inserting a disk, I suspected the AN8290S motor control IC which unfortunately are made of unobtainium, i did some searching through Technics service manuals and found several models that also contain this IC, the models are SL-P320, SL-P520 and SL-P210, there are possibly more. My plan was purchase an old unit and remove the IC chip i wasn't looking forward to it as its 24pin surface mounted and my soldering skills are not great. I found a SL-P520 on ebay for £45 and decided it was worth a punt. Once it arrived i was surprised to see that the motor drive board with the IC attached looked very similar to the SL-P1200, after re-stripping the 1200 down the boards are indeed similar but not identical, the location holes are in the same place and everything lines up perfectly, the only problem was the heatsink which is in a slightly different position catches on one of the plastic caps that fit on top of the drive suspension springs. I decided to file a flat on the cap and reversed the spring to give more clearance, this allowed the new drive board to fit, i excitedly connected everything back up plugged it in and low and behold the disk now spins on its own and works faultlessly. Hope this helps some of you with the same issue. By the way i cannot guarantee the drive board on the 320 and 210 will fit straight into the 1200 but i can tell you the 520 does with minimal modification.
 
Having read the entire thread, I have some question as to what the problem with my Luxman D-405 CD player could be. I'm leaning towards a possible weak laser, but it plays 99% of what I have been putting in it. I have a newer Sticky Fingers by the Stones that the motor runs when inserted, then gets no screen at all and the motor stops, and has no display. I have cleaned the lens, but I'm pretty sure that's not the issue as no changes I also starts to skips backwards or kinda just play up to a certain point on a Led Zeppelin III CD. Cleaned the lens and have the same results with both CD's. When I am watching the drive or transport mechanism it all appears to work 100%, the laser part moves up and down on a search. I've played about 6 CD's so far as I just purchased this. It has a new drive belt, and all the rails and gears are clean from any grease. It is a very clean unit.

I might mention as well that both of the CD's I'm having issues with play without fault in my NAD515 CD player. I know the 515 is probably 10 years newer, but the D-405 does play all but the 2 discs mentioned so far without issue.

I also noticed that the service manual mentions an alignment jig for a Toshiba XR-Z20 player so after a little searching found it to be very similar in looks and probably the same laser and other associated parts. An OPH-32 laser which I think might also be a SONY or SONY inspired?

DSC00422.JPG

DSC00423.JPG

DSC00424.JPG

The smudges on the disc area are from just having wiped it down with some cleaner.

Any info would be appreciated.
 
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Having read the entire thread, I have some question as to what the problem with my Luxman D-405 CD player could be. I'm leaning towards a possible weak laser, but it plays 99% of what I have been putting in it. I have a newer Sticky Fingers by the Stones that the motor runs when inserted, then gets no screen at all and the motor stops, and has no display. I have cleaned the lens, but I'm pretty sure that's not the issue as no changes I also starts to skips backwards or kinda just play up to a certain point on a Led Zeppelin III CD. Cleaned the lens and have the same results with both CD's. When I am watching the drive or transport mechanism it all appears to work 100%, the laser part moves up and down on a search. I've played about 6 CD's so far as I just purchased this. It has a new drive belt, and all the rails and gears are clean from any grease. It is a very clean unit.

I might mention as well that both of the CD's I'm having issues with play without fault in my NAD515 CD player. I know the 515 is probably 10 years newer, but the D-405 does play all but the 2 discs mentioned so far without issue.

I also noticed that the service manual mentions an alignment jig for a Toshiba XR-Z20 player so after a little searching found it to be very similar in looks and probably the same laser and other associated parts. An OPH-32 laser which I think might also be a SONY or SONY inspired?

View attachment 923239

View attachment 923240

View attachment 923241

The smudges on the disc area are from just having wiped it down with some cleaner.

Any info would be appreciated.

The rails need some kind of lubricant on them, either oil or grease. Light machine oil works best on most players. Clean the rails and lube them as detailed in this thread. Oil the top bearing of the spindle motor.
Check for scraping noises when the troublesome CDs play. Thinner CDs will sometimes cause the chuck to rub on the support bracket.
The best way to check the laser is by using an oscilloscope to view the rf waveform. The electronic adjustments could be off but you need a scope to perform them. This is a Toshiba mech and pickup, NOT Sony. They never were very good.
 
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