3 Strikes for My CD Players?

oldflame

oldflame

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
After reading the Stickies and other posts about digital gear, I'm wondering if some of my electronics suffered from a controller "stroke"? In the past ten years I've had an unusual number of digitally controlled appliances collect operating errors and finally freeze and fail after a short life. Other items are ten to twenty years old and still working.

Two years ago I replaced my "Recommended" CD player because it no longer responded. Cleaning the laser and checking the transport had no effect. Either did unplugging it for a couple hours or days. The replacement "Recommended" player I got quit right after its two year warranty, in the same manner. They both began with improper operation and then froze up. One of my two ~ 20 year old, back-up, Technics CD players then got fussy about the CD's it would play, so I'll have to check the transport. The other one still works, but I don't want to use it in my main system anymore.

Since I'm not switching to streaming or a server yet, I just ordered another "Recommended" player. I realize the recommended rating is for the sound quality and not reliability, but all the units are made by well known manufacturers with good track records. Other failed appliances were from Sony, RCA, or other odd companies not known for reliability, but at least I was aware of that when purchasing.

Now get this: after several attempts to revive the first two players, I let them sit for some months and weeks, until that "little" voice began a chorus with my gut feelings - only this time I listened. Upon plugging them in again, they both work. I'm at a loss to explain it. Like our brains after suffering a minor stroke, could those magical microchips be healing themselves.?
 
I've had that happen before .. usually the problem is intermittent & returns at some point.

I've had two disc players prematurely fail on me ... one DVD & Blu Ray. The thing they had in common is that I used these particular units quite often. I've had disc spinners last for 10+ years .. what they have in common? They don't get played all that often .. like on a daily or even weekly basis.

Anyway .. that's my experience.
 
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oldflame said:
could those magical microchips be healing themselves.
Click to expand...
This doesn't necessarily refer to chips or CDPs — but I've had a few components fail completely — all my troubleshooting and efforts to fix them failed. They were either too good, or the sentimental attachment too strong, to just junk them, so I put them in a closet, to think about later.

Much later, sometimes years, I tried them again — lo and behold, they were perfect.

"Healing"? Seems absurd. But I don't rule it out...
 
CD players are such the moody components. Always a mystery with them. The music reproduced is excellent, but they are very finicky to vibration and even the slightest amount of dust on a CD.
 
Same thing happened with my subwoofer. After trying everything to get it to work, Including unplugging it for a few days, I put it away with the intention of tossing it when I get a chance. 6 months later I'm ready to take it with me to the dump, And thought I would try it again for my own peace of mind. Surprise, The darn thing worked perfectly. Even the small blue power lamp on the front of my Energy Sub, Which are notorious for burning out came on.

Perhaps there are microprocessor's in the products that sometimes need to be completely discharged, Not just a few minutes as sometimes instructed in manuals to reset once they malfunction.
 
It may be the Yin & Yang of life: I'm often lucky and able to find the obscure problem causing failures of different equipment, but the flip side is that the electronics I've acquired, lately, has had a fairly high failure rate, or so it seems. Give the complexity of many components we buy (just look at a packed PCB) it's amazing the age that some things reach. It would be interesting to know what's going on that extended time unpowered restores operation.

Sometimes a reset code or button sequence method will be found in the owners manual. I haven't had any luck with that yet, have you?
 
Zero issues ever, with any digital equipment here, even my well used, that I bought in 1987 Mac MCD 7007 CD player, and the 4 more recent DVD players, digital crossovers, A/V/P that I own, with one that runs 24/7/365 playing WAV. music off a flash drive, or SSD usb connected to it.
It`s a OPPO BDP-103(my first OPPO), purchased new over 6 years ago.

I attribute my luck, if you will, that all my electronics, especially the most expensive, and critical ones have high quality very well filtered/surge/spike protection, and have had their whole life..

And the real critical digital gear is powered by a pure sine wave UPS, so they can`t become confused by unseen/unnoticed minor, or major power blips/spikes/surges(that I like to refer to as undesirable digital commands from the devil !!) that the minor one`s are happening all the time..
Your power isn`t as clean as you might think.

I like to use and enjoy my gear for decades, and not have to repair, or replace it unnecessarily !!

Anyway, this is my thoughts on preventive digital problems.. YMMD

Take care.

Kind regards, OKB
 
I have problems with rubber bands stretching and or decaying which causes them to slip on the pulley. I got nervous with my Sony CDP-X7ES thinking I did not want to end up with a door stop. It never gave me problems and worked perfectly but I sold it...stupidly. My beautiful Pioneer PD-93 will probably get sold for the same reason. I almost never play it to keep the hours off the laser. These days, I play new-ish DVD and BD players which sound just as good as my 20 year old TOTL CDP's. I have $10 to $20 each into them so if one fails, it goes straight to the dumpster.
 
SoCal Sam said:
I got nervous with my Sony CDP-X7ES thinking I did not want to end up with a door stop. It never gave me problems and worked perfectly but I sold it...stupidly.
Click to expand...

I have two CDP-X7esd and two of the CDP-338esd Sonys. The lasers are pretty much indestructible, as is the mechanism. Apart from the periodic replacement of the two loading belts- they will outlast you and I. It was, and is, a fantastic machine. Get yourself another one!

lbls1 said:
CD players are such the moody components. Always a mystery with them. The music reproduced is excellent, but they are very finicky to vibration and even the slightest amount of dust on a CD.
Click to expand...

Good CD players are not in the least bit moody or sensitive to vibration, dust, scratches or external shock. In fact the world's first CD player (CDP-101) can be shaken while playing and turned upside down. (I've got six of them). As always, correct alignment and periodic maintenance will ensure 'perfect sound forever'... :)
 
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restorer-john said:
I have two CDP-X7esd and two of the CDP-338esd Sonys. The lasers are pretty much indestructible, as is the mechanism. Apart from the periodic replacement of the two loading belts- they will outlast you and I. It was, and is, a fantastic machine. Get yourself another one!



Good CD player are not in the least bit moody or sensitive to vibration, dust, scratches or external shock. In fact the world's first CD player (CDP-101) can be shaken while playing and turned upside down. (I've got six of them). As always, correct alignment and periodic maintenance will ensure 'perfect sound forever'... :)
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
restorer-john said:
I have two CDP-X7esd and two of the CDP-338esd Sonys. The lasers are pretty much indestructible, as is the mechanism. Apart from the periodic replacement of the two loading belts- they will outlast you and I. It was, and is, a fantastic machine. Get yourself another one!...
Click to expand...

I regretted it the second I took the money. It was a one owner low hour unit with original box found locally. It will not get better than that.
 
SoCal Sam said:
I regretted it the second I took the money. It was a one owner low hour unit with original box found locally. It will not get better than that.
Click to expand...

One will turn up for you. I have asked the universe to provide you a Sony CDP-X7esd in as new condition, complete with remote and maybe a box. :)
 
restorer-john said:
I have two CDP-X7esd and two of the CDP-338esd Sonys. The lasers are pretty much indestructible, as is the mechanism. Apart from the periodic replacement of the two loading belts- they will outlast you and I. It was, and is, a fantastic machine. Get yourself another one!



Good CD players are not in the least bit moody or sensitive to vibration, dust, scratches or external shock. In fact the world's first CD player (CDP-101) can be shaken while playing and turned upside down. (I've got six of them). As always, correct alignment and periodic maintenance will ensure 'perfect sound forever'... :)
Click to expand...

Oh yes they are; Any CD player. Sure there are some that are shock proof, but I've had many players: Home, Car, portable, and while they can produce excellent sound, not one of them were immune from occasional skipping from a disc.
 
restorer-john said:
I feel sorry for you because clearly either your discs are in absolutely terrible condition or you had really bad luck with poor quality CD players over the years.
Click to expand...

Save your sympathy for yourself. Nothing to be sorry about. I've had excellent quality players and components. I'm mereley stating an accurate fact about them. All HiFi components will have their set of good qualities as well as not so good.
 
I've had dirty power mess with stuff. Specifically a coffee maker that always locked up, intalled a whole house surge suppressor at the breaker panel and it worked fine after that.
 
It would be helpful if you told us the brand and model of a specific player and detailed exactly what it was doing wrong: wouldn't read table of contents, went into pause when you pushed the open / close button, etc. The problem could be environmental; high humidity, or ESD discharge when you touch it, crud built up in the switches from cigarette smoke or cooking, or powerline spikes or surges. Years ago there was an Akai receiver that would freak out when another remote was used, and it had to be reset.
 
Well Dr.Audio, I've a malady i'm blaming on the Electronics Murphy Syndrome. I'll list some of the things you mentioned; maybe you'll have a different diagnoses. There's a new twist since last posting -- the car CD and one Technics began skipping, and the other old Technics might have a poor pcb solder joint because one output is intermittent when wiggled and it's not the cable. All three are almost 20 years old; it's just that this all happened in the last week. Hopefully a cleaning will suffice.

All units have transient and EMI filters which are grounded. No smoking, but we burn candles. I can understand a belt or dirt problem, but the build-up of operating problems followed by no control function, and then "healing" -- after months of no use.

The two players that experienced similar, complete failures, and resurrections, were a $450 Cambridge which lost increasing display function when only a few years old. Eventually there was no display, but it still played for awhile and then died completely. The NAD BEE516 was just over two years old and just out of warranty. It began repeating and skipping and finally quit. Both of those CD players came back to like only after ordering new replacements some months later. The display is still dark, but the Cambridge is OK now. The NAD seems to be back to normal.

I'm not sending the new player back because I'm hoping it'll act as "protection" insurance against Murphy. I'll be pleased if I notice and sound improvements.
 
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