Adjusting a skipping CD player - ?
 

Mike wrote:

I think that authorized repair services have three advantage over
independent ones. First, they have an easier access to custom parts,
like ROMS or transformers. Second, having seen more models of the same
type and brand they could recognize some common pitfalls. Third,
an authorized service has to meet some standards.

Which should give them an advantage over independent specialists, in
being able to spot the problem in four minutes, and if possible, fix it
in another five. Instead, they screw it all up by having their
management making them charge 1 h for each of the mentioned activities;
half aiming at "helping" the customer to decide to buy a new box of
their brand instead.

They loose me as a customer, because of their attitude, even if their
products are good.

Anyway, try to search sci.electronics.repair FAQS: there is some advice
on servicing CD players.

Just found it - will have a closer look.

THanks -

--
T Sandvik // to send e-mail, remove clothes

Adjusting a skipping CD player - ?
 

On Sat, 25 Oct 2003 23:32:09 +0100,
(ts) wrote:

Which should give them an advantage over independent specialists, in
being able to spot the problem in four minutes, and if possible, fix it
in another five. Instead, they screw it all up by having their
management making them charge 1 h for each of the mentioned activities;
half aiming at "helping" the customer to decide to buy a new box of
their brand instead.

They loose me as a customer, because of their attitude, even if their
products are good.

You can't run a business on the basis of "That's OK - it was an easy
one. Bung me a fiver!".

Adjusting a skipping CD player - ?
 

On Sat, 25 Oct 2003 23:32:09 +0100,
(ts) wrote:

Which should give them an advantage over independent specialists, in
being able to spot the problem in four minutes, and if possible, fix it
in another five. Instead, they screw it all up by having their
management making them charge 1 h for each of the mentioned activities;
half aiming at "helping" the customer to decide to buy a new box of
their brand instead.

They loose me as a customer, because of their attitude, even if their
products are good.

You can't run a business on the basis of "That's OK - it was an easy
one. Bung me a fiver!".

Adjusting a skipping CD player - ?
 

"ts" wrote in message
...
malcolm wrote:

it sounds like the CD Player doesnt like the 'copy protected' CDs they
now
sell.

Also thought of that possibility. Some of the worst skipping ones [SO's]
bear a "Audio CD" logo, if it should matter.

Just to investigate, I copied one of the SO's with a CDRW. The copy
appeared to play slightly better wrt skipping, but was more noicy
(sudden "bursts"), and thus not a useful copy. A hallmark of a mediocre
CDRW, or blank disks ? (unfortunately didn't check details)

This seems to indicate that the reflectivity of the disc is a factor.
Try cleaning the objective lens with a cotton bud.

Adjusting a skipping CD player - ?
 

"ts" wrote in message
...
malcolm wrote:

it sounds like the CD Player doesnt like the 'copy protected' CDs they
now
sell.

Also thought of that possibility. Some of the worst skipping ones [SO's]
bear a "Audio CD" logo, if it should matter.

Just to investigate, I copied one of the SO's with a CDRW. The copy
appeared to play slightly better wrt skipping, but was more noicy
(sudden "bursts"), and thus not a useful copy. A hallmark of a mediocre
CDRW, or blank disks ? (unfortunately didn't check details)

This seems to indicate that the reflectivity of the disc is a factor.
Try cleaning the objective lens with a cotton bud.

Adjusting a skipping CD player - ?
 

Although I have virtually no electronics experience, and will probably get
slammed for what I'm about to say, I've fixed three or four "skipping" cd
players that were destined for the trash by doing the following:

When you open up the lid of your cd player and slide the tray out, take a
look on the circuit board for some adjustable potentiometers. Take some
white out and mark these. Then take one and move it incrementally (i.e.
1/16th turn) in one direction and then see if your cd player still skips.
Make sure you're keeping notes. If you don't get a change, put it back to
its original position and try another pot.

As I say, I've fixed a few cd players doing this (Technics, Sony and
Pioneer) and it really wasn't that difficult and the way I figured it was,
if I ruined it, I would be no worse off than having a cd player that didn't
work properly anyway.

BTW Everyone else's advice to grease the tracks, check the bands, etc., is a
given and should be checked first.

Good Luck.

Spiderant.


"ts" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I thought I'd ask here before converting my CD player into an inverse
AIRFIX lifesize model.

My about 10 y.o. SONY har recently begun misbehaving, with progressively
worse skipping primarily when playing newish (Audio) CDs, the first
three (innermost) tracks mostly affected.

Last week I opened the cabinet for the first time since it was
assembled, discovering a very clean inside, with whitish grease still
neatly lubricating the interacting surfaces of the disk transport
mechanism. Only sign indicating use was on the inside of the cover above
the transformator, where a light deposit could be wiped off. I cleaned
the laser disk gently with ethanol, but found nothing else I obviously
could do anything with. Subjectively, I imagine a slight improvement in
the clarity of music played post-cleaning (but this may be a
placebo-like effect).

The skipping continued as before. Today I consulted a local SONY shop,
who informed they'd be happy to take it in and look at it (£42). If they
could do anything to it they would charge per hour (£36) spent fiddling
with it. If they decided they could do nothing with, it they would
generously deduct the "staring fee" against the purchase price of a new
unit from them. Needless to say, I left immediately.

Does anyone recognise this behaviour as signs of increasing misalignment
(or other correctable deviations from normalty) ?

If this is the case, can anyone recommend an independent workshop which
might adjust the player?

Or alternatively, does anyone know whether this may be done DIY-wise;
thus instructions of how to do it would be very much appreciated (very
often, specialist servicing jobs are surprisingly simple!).

Thanks for any input!

(And whilst typing the above, I've listened to one of my favourite
recordings, purchased the same year as the player - without any
skipping)

Cheers,

--
T Sandvik // to send e-mail, remove clothes

Adjusting a skipping CD player - ?
 

Although I have virtually no electronics experience, and will probably get
slammed for what I'm about to say, I've fixed three or four "skipping" cd
players that were destined for the trash by doing the following:

When you open up the lid of your cd player and slide the tray out, take a
look on the circuit board for some adjustable potentiometers. Take some
white out and mark these. Then take one and move it incrementally (i.e.
1/16th turn) in one direction and then see if your cd player still skips.
Make sure you're keeping notes. If you don't get a change, put it back to
its original position and try another pot.

As I say, I've fixed a few cd players doing this (Technics, Sony and
Pioneer) and it really wasn't that difficult and the way I figured it was,
if I ruined it, I would be no worse off than having a cd player that didn't
work properly anyway.

BTW Everyone else's advice to grease the tracks, check the bands, etc., is a
given and should be checked first.

Good Luck.

Spiderant.


"ts" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I thought I'd ask here before converting my CD player into an inverse
AIRFIX lifesize model.

My about 10 y.o. SONY har recently begun misbehaving, with progressively
worse skipping primarily when playing newish (Audio) CDs, the first
three (innermost) tracks mostly affected.

Last week I opened the cabinet for the first time since it was
assembled, discovering a very clean inside, with whitish grease still
neatly lubricating the interacting surfaces of the disk transport
mechanism. Only sign indicating use was on the inside of the cover above
the transformator, where a light deposit could be wiped off. I cleaned
the laser disk gently with ethanol, but found nothing else I obviously
could do anything with. Subjectively, I imagine a slight improvement in
the clarity of music played post-cleaning (but this may be a
placebo-like effect).

The skipping continued as before. Today I consulted a local SONY shop,
who informed they'd be happy to take it in and look at it (£42). If they
could do anything to it they would charge per hour (£36) spent fiddling
with it. If they decided they could do nothing with, it they would
generously deduct the "staring fee" against the purchase price of a new
unit from them. Needless to say, I left immediately.

Does anyone recognise this behaviour as signs of increasing misalignment
(or other correctable deviations from normalty) ?

If this is the case, can anyone recommend an independent workshop which
might adjust the player?

Or alternatively, does anyone know whether this may be done DIY-wise;
thus instructions of how to do it would be very much appreciated (very
often, specialist servicing jobs are surprisingly simple!).

Thanks for any input!

(And whilst typing the above, I've listened to one of my favourite
recordings, purchased the same year as the player - without any
skipping)

Cheers,

--
T Sandvik // to send e-mail, remove clothes

Adjusting a skipping CD player - ?
 

"Spiderant" wrote in message
news:cPUmb.191355$pl3.178984@pd7tw3no...
Although I have virtually no electronics experience, and will probably get
slammed for what I'm about to say, I've fixed three or four "skipping" cd
players that were destined for the trash by doing the following:

When you open up the lid of your cd player and slide the tray out, take a
look on the circuit board for some adjustable potentiometers. Take some
white out and mark these. Then take one and move it incrementally (i.e.
1/16th turn) in one direction and then see if your cd player still skips.
Make sure you're keeping notes. If you don't get a change, put it back to
its original position and try another pot.

As I say, I've fixed a few cd players doing this (Technics, Sony and
Pioneer) and it really wasn't that difficult and the way I figured it was,
if I ruined it, I would be no worse off than having a cd player that
didn't
work properly anyway.

BTW Everyone else's advice to grease the tracks, check the bands, etc., is
a
given and should be checked first.



Now, *that's* what I call fettling.......!!!

:-)

Adjusting a skipping CD player - ?
 

"Spiderant" wrote in message
news:cPUmb.191355$pl3.178984@pd7tw3no...
Although I have virtually no electronics experience, and will probably get
slammed for what I'm about to say, I've fixed three or four "skipping" cd
players that were destined for the trash by doing the following:

When you open up the lid of your cd player and slide the tray out, take a
look on the circuit board for some adjustable potentiometers. Take some
white out and mark these. Then take one and move it incrementally (i.e.
1/16th turn) in one direction and then see if your cd player still skips.
Make sure you're keeping notes. If you don't get a change, put it back to
its original position and try another pot.

As I say, I've fixed a few cd players doing this (Technics, Sony and
Pioneer) and it really wasn't that difficult and the way I figured it was,
if I ruined it, I would be no worse off than having a cd player that
didn't
work properly anyway.

BTW Everyone else's advice to grease the tracks, check the bands, etc., is
a
given and should be checked first.



Now, *that's* what I call fettling.......!!!

:-)

Adjusting a skipping CD player - ?
 

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Sat, 25 Oct 2003 23:32:09 +0100,
(ts) wrote:

They loose me as a customer, because of their attitude, even if their
products are good.

You can't run a business on the basis of "That's OK - it was an easy
one. Bung me a fiver!".

Disagree. I tend to return to shops that previously have given good,
non-rip-off advice, and have deliberately purchased the most of my
expensive home-audio items from them.

--
T Sandvik // to send e-mail, remove clothes