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Why can't my older CD player read certain CDs?

S

Sobsey

Member
I have a Toshiba SD9000 CD/DVD player. It sounds very good (to me) despite not being a CD-exclusive machine. It seems to have good solid machinery -- it weighs a ton for a CD player -- yet the very occasional CD totally flummoxes it. It'll just whir and whir and not be able to read the disc. I know it isn't a question of age, because I have older CD players that have no trouble reading the same discs. Is the problem related to the Toshiba's status as a DVD player as well as a CD player? Or are there other issues at play, perhaps?
 
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I think some of the older CD players won’t read certain file types. If the file type is newer then the player that might be the problem.
 
All of the above makes sense but it plays perfectly except literally with two CDs that it always refuses to read (and the older CD players do read).
 
Sorry guys not an expert when it comes to these sort of things, but I have experience cd players from the early to mid '80's not being able to play cd-r's. Something to do with the laser strength and type not being able to read the data through the pigment in the cd-r, from what I've read. But with the advent of dvd players this wasn't generally an issue. I would venture to say that it is 1) a cd related issue or 2) a hardware issue with your player.
 
My Onkyo DX7500 sometimes has issues with CD-Rs. Most of the time, it will read them OK but sometimes I get static, pops, or drop outs. It's never done that with real discs though.
 
CD-Rs have a lower contrast ratio than commercially manufactured CDs. On old CD players, the switching threshold (between 1s and zeroes) is often too high to reliably play many CD-Rs. Some service manuals show the procedure for setting the threshold in which case you might be able to adjust it. Later players are either set up so they can play CD-Rs with either a lower threshold setting or a more sophisticated circuit that can dynamically adjust the threshold based on minimum and maximum signal values coming off the disc.
 
I know my older DVD Players by Rotel and Sony won't play DVD-R's. The Sony was a TOTL player back in it's day. DVP N999Es, and the Rotel is a 1040.
My lower end Sony Blu ray player plays anything, and My Yamaha DVD-C961 nearly does. It's finicky with certain DVD-R , or +R's. I know it plays a certain type of Sony DVD-R fine so that's what I look for if I need them. And that is rarely.

Many good quality early CD Players may have been built well but how they read discs often sucked.

Reminds me I have to get THE RIGHT LASER for my Rega Apollo since it no longer will read discs. I bought the right laser, but somebody forgot to mention you need the correct spindle. The lasers are dirt cheap. I need to start a thread about that.

Sorry for rambling OP.
 
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Just get a newer dedicated CD player.
I love my Onkyo C-7030. It punches way above it class!
Pioneer has a good one for about $250 too.
 
Slosh MaGee said:
Sorry guys not an expert when it comes to these sort of things, but I have experience cd players from the early to mid '80's not being able to play cd-r's. Something to do with the laser strength and type not being able to read the data through the pigment in the cd-r, from what I've read. But with the advent of dvd players this wasn't generally an issue. I would venture to say that it is 1) a cd related issue or 2) a hardware issue with your player.
Click to expand...
I agree observing same reading CD-R problems with Yamaha 5 CD and 5 DVD. I had to read the CD-R on a 2010 Samsung blueray DVD player. It was reading CD-R with a Sony CDP CE-345 though. I read somewhere there is a way to increase laser power but it reduces laser's life. So it's often try it and see.
 
I've had many experiences with CDR's not reading - playing correctly on older CD players. Most of the time the trick is to burn the cdr at a slow speed (Speed x 4 max burn speed), slower the burn, the better.

Use a good quality burner software and cdr discs.
 
The burned CDs have to be finalized at the end of the burning process, or "regular CD players" won`t recognize them, but a computer system`s optical drive will, if the burned disc is in reasonably decent shape, as the computer considers the disc as a data disc, I`m speculating here.

My 3 OPPO BR/DVD/CD Universal players will recognize and play non finalized burns, but my 1987 purchased Mc. MCD-7007 CD player will not show the discs TOC and displays ERROR in red in the player`s info./status window.
 
had a similar problem. there's a screw on the laser mechanism that was gently adjusted -/+ to get it to work. i'd get the literature on the unit and verify which formats it should play. clean the lens. love the way the marantz unit sounds, but mostly use the flash drive port for "endless" music.
 
Make sure the disc you are trying to play is as clean as a mirror. any kind of light film or pits or scratches can give a player fits. Also if you have cleaned and very lightly lubricated the shuttle the laser is attached to the mechanism might be getting to slow to move the laser adequately back and forth on its rails.
 
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