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CD's Skipping

parman

parman

Music Junkie
Subscriber
A guy I work with brought me his Sony carrousel type CD player and asked if I would take a look at it to see why the disc skips when playing. I figured the "eye" was dirty and it would be a easy fix. I opened it up and was able to wipe it off without any trouble but that didn't stop the skipping. Any ideas what the next step should be? All other functions seem to work.
 
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Does it skip with commercial CD or just with CD-Rs?

Check the balance of the player with a bubble level to make sure it is level left-right, front-back.
Check the rails and spindle area to see if they need cleaning.
Check the clamps. Some lower clamps have a vinyl cover than can wrinkle or have foam debris from the top clamp stuck on it that can affect the orbit.
Is the top magnet spinning smoothly versus an exaggerated wobble?

Those are usually the simple DIY things you can check.

You don't mention the model but some Sonys like the CA7ES have a reputation for skipping.

Worse case may be the lens is failing.
 
Thanks for the ideas. The model is a CDP-CX355, 300 disc carrousel that the discs stand up when playing.It is skipping with pre recorded CD's. Theclamps are a left & right and the powered one has foam on it and there was a little junk I wiped off but it wasn't that dirty. I'm not sure what the magnets are, I'll have to find those but I didn't notice the disc wobbling.
 
The unit may be a goner, with a worn out laser assembly. Had this happen to a couple players, and the rubber isolation suspension tends to harden too, not really not doing much isolation from vibration anymore. Try giving the units top a sides a good wrap with your knuckles, and see what happens. If this is the case, probably not worth messing with.
 
Renzor213 said:
The unit may be a goner, with a worn out laser assembly. Had this happen to a couple players, and the rubber isolation suspension tends to harden too, not really not doing much isolation from vibration anymore. Try giving the units top a sides a good wrap with your knuckles, and see what happens. If this is the case, probably not worth messing with.
Click to expand...

This has been my experience several times.
 
My Sony single CD deck from the early 90s skipped; can be solved by weighting the case with other components, e.g., stacking. The problems seems to be that yes, the mechanism gets a lot more sensitive to even very mild vibration. I'm glad I did not throw that unit out, but it remains touchy. If you stack a tape deck and smaller amp on top of it, it is playable.
 
The laser is of the inexpensive KSS series. It will have a label that tells you exactly which one. The Luxman I have uses a Sony transport. It started skipping a few years ago and got worse, so a few weeks ago I did a search for the KSS-210A laser it uses and found one on that auction site for $11.70 shipped from China. It got here in one week, I installed it and the skipping problem went away.

Your other option option is to replace the entire CD mechanism that will include a new spin motor and laser for about $60. "http://www.partstore.com/Part/Sony/Sony/CDPCX355/Sony/Sony/A3328818A/New.aspx" This part fits many Sony CD players so it is readily available.
 
parman said:
Thanks for the ideas. The model is a CDP-CX355, 300 disc carrousel that the discs stand up when playing.It is skipping with pre recorded CD's. Theclamps are a left & right and the powered one has foam on it and there was a little junk I wiped off but it wasn't that dirty. I'm not sure what the magnets are, I'll have to find those but I didn't notice the disc wobbling.
Click to expand...
The magnet I was talking about is more typical of 5 or 6 disc horizontal carousels. There is a top clamp that is a magnet and a bottom clamp that pushes the CD up to the top clamp and they hold the cd in place for spinning. So your set up may be different.
parman said:
is it common for Sony's to have laser problems?
Click to expand...
I have had a couple Sonys fail and I think it was the laser or some other problem. I had a C79ES bought new where drum beats started to sound distorted and mushy besides skipping. I also have a used CA7ES, as I mentioned, skips no matter what cleaning and shimming I try.

I have a Sony CA70ES and a CA80ES that run fine.
 
wgrr said:
The laser is of the inexpensive KSS series. It will have a label that tells you exactly which one. The Luxman I have uses a Sony transport. It started skipping a few years ago and got worse, so a few weeks ago I did a search for the KSS-210A laser it uses and found one on that auction site for $11.70 shipped from China. It got here in one week, I installed it and the skipping problem went away.

Your other option option is to replace the entire CD mechanism that will include a new spin motor and laser for about $60. "http://www.partstore.com/Part/Sony/Sony/CDPCX355/Sony/Sony/A3328818A/New.aspx" This part fits many Sony CD players so it is readily available.
Click to expand...

Thanks wgrr, This one has a KSS-2138. From what I read it looks like that series is a low end laser but I'll look around and see if I can find one cheap.
 
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