"Iain M Churches" wrote in message
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"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
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"Kieran" wrote in message
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Hi,

Switched my Arcam 8se CD player on today, and, upon pressing play
button, I get 90% hiss/crackling, and 10% music. Checked all the cables,
switched input from CD to Aux on amp, still the same. Tuner plays fine
through amp, so has to be the CD player. Left it for 30 minutes, turned
it on again (to demonstrate to wife!), and the ratio had reversed to 90%
music, 10% crackling. A few minutes later it was back to 90% crackling,
10% music. Any ideas? Is it worth trying to get this repaired, or would
it be more economical to look to eBay for a replacement.

Thanks in advance,

Kieran


Got to be worth cleaning the laser lens as a first move, as poor recovery
of data from the disc can lead to a sound like crackling, as the output
DAC struggles to make something of the rough data it's receiving. This is
particularly true, if the problem is present on both audio channels. Do
it manually though. Cleaning discs don't work, and I've known them to do
damage. If this doesn't cure the symptoms, refer it to a professional
service centre for evaluation of the problem.

Arfa


Interesting question about lenses. Someone asked me if manufacturers
produce their own, or do they all use a lens from a company like
Philips? Any ideas?

Iain


Hi Iain

I assume that by " lenses " you are referring to the whole optical block as
opposed to that little piece of clear plastic on the top of it ?? I'm
guessing that you are, so the simple answer is no.

Many laser blocks are made by Sony, and are branded as such. There are about
8 or 10 common types of laser that fall into this category, including the
KSS 213 series, KSS 212, KSS 210 series and KSS 240 series. You will find
them in all manner of players from obscure brands sold in your local Tesco,
to such rather more worthies as Teacs and Denons. The rest of the deck may
well be made by those manufacturers, or some other third party, but the
point is that the laser block is not made by them.

However, there are probably just as many which are made by the manufacturers
themselves. Philips is one that springs to mind, also Pioneer, Matsu****a
( Pan & Technics ) Sharp, Sanyo etc. I'm not sure, however, whether there
are a lot of manufacturers making laser diodes and pickup chips, or just a
couple, from whose components, the " self makers " assemble their blocks.
For instance, there are only a couple of major manufacturers in the world,
making plasma panels, but many manufacturers using them in their products.

Some " high end " CD players, are in fact just badged up low end ones. I'm
often surprised, and not a little amused, when I open up an item for repair,
that has cost it's owner 500 quid, only to find that inside it's identical
to an £80 one that I have repaired earlier in the week ... It's always hard
to know what you're buying unless you are ' in the game ' as it were. Most
Marantz items are just differently badged standard Philips products.

Finally, just to muddy the waters a bit more, some players, curiously
located at either the very top, or the very bottom of the market, use pre
manufactured third party decks, complete with all the basic front end
digital processing and decoding electronics. Often, these will have a
standard 50 way bus cable connected to them, and look like they could be
dropped directly into a computer. This is also true for DVD players, but
this time, almost ( but not quite ) exclusively at the bottom end of the
market.

Just as an aside, I wonder why domestic DVD recorders are so unreliable, and
yet the ones that you stick in your computer, seem to go on for ever ?

BTW, loved the pictures of your valve amps. I've always been a lover of
anything with valves in, since I cut my teeth on them, too many years ago to
want to remember. It's heartening to know that there are still people out
there prepared to build with them as well.

Arfa