Fix for older CD players not reading newer format

uhCyn

New Member
Not sure if this is a proper place for question like this, but I figure it's worth a shot.

I've had this Auto Disc Changer for as long as I can remember just lying around, and I knew it was older but I had hoped it would read newer format cds. I was unsurprisingly disappointed. Is there any way I can fix this problem by potentially replacing the laser or should I just purchase a newer model?

Also, has anyone heard of the brand of this before? I have never read anything about anyone else's piece of Vector Research equipment. My specific model is the Vector Research VCD-600R.
 
I've seen Vector Research equipment mentioned a number of times in threads here; if you do a search, you'll find information. But as far as "newer format cds" goes, I've never heard of such a thing!
 
I've seen Vector Research equipment mentioned a number of times in threads here; if you do a search, you'll find information. But as far as "newer format cds" goes, I've never heard of such a thing!
What I had meant is that newer CDs are manufactured differently than most from before a certain year (late 80s to early 90s, I believe), or at least I've been lead to believe by my own findings. I tested a couple newer CDs on this hardware, none of which worked. When I tried older CDs, however, they worked perfectly fine, albeit with extremely low treble. Perhaps its just the hardware itself, although I have read somewhere about certain disc drives being particularly better at reading certain forms of CDs and DVDs better, but I never read too far into it.
 
Tried a cleaner disk? Readily available on the net or at your local big box store.

If a player has "issues", your only option is usually a firmware upgrade. Luck wit dat on a unit that old.
 
CDs conform to a standard known as Red Book. Those specifications are easy enough to research if you are interested, but in the main, every CD ever manufactured should play on any CD player.

However, there are some exceptions. For a while, Sony sold disks that were designed not to be copied. They would not play on computers and actually put a rather nasty form of virus (known as a rootkit) on Windows machines. Some of those disks turn up occasionally, but should still be playable on CD players.

Could be worth checking that you are actually playing a CD and not an SACD, DVD-A etc. CD players will ONLY playRed Book CDs. You will need a different player to use other kinds of disk. They look the same but are far different. Many players are backwards compatible, and will play all, or most, types of disk, although a BluRay player might not play an SACD, for example. It depends on the built in software.
 
What I had meant is that newer CDs are manufactured differently than most from before a certain year (late 80s to early 90s, I believe), or at least I've been lead to believe by my own findings. I tested a couple newer CDs on this hardware, none of which worked. When I tried older CDs, however, they worked perfectly fine, albeit with extremely low treble. Perhaps its just the hardware itself, although I have read somewhere about certain disc drives being particularly better at reading certain forms of CDs and DVDs better, but I never read too far into it.

If you're saying that, generally speaking, CDs made after a certain year don't play on your machine, then I would have to think it's your machine, not the CDs, and if it's an older one (say, 20 years old or more), it may be that you're beginning to see signs that the laser is dying. If you look at the thread on troubleshooting CDPs (http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/troubleshooting-cd-players.440522/), you will find more information on how to assess yours. In most cases, if it's a laser problem, it's not feasible to repair it.

I see CD players in thrift stores all the time priced from $5-20 for the most part. Over the years, I've picked up several that sound fine and work very reliably. If you're patient and make a habit of checking on a regular basis, there's a good chance you'll run across one. The good news is that, although they're older, if you buy a few and one craps out, there's always another one available.
 
Newer formats? If you care about high-fidelity music reproduction, I suggest that you obtain a unit that plays SACDs, Pure Audio Blu-ray, downloaded hi-res DSD files, and downloaded hi-res (24bit/192kHz) FLAC files - in addition to CDs.
 
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Many thanks for the help, lads. Seems I have been misinformed. Well, my player is from '88, so just about 30 years old. Perhaps my laser is calling it quits. I don't live too far from a thrift so I'll keep my eye out for a player. Thanks again, guys.
 
Perhaps you refer to the notion that CD-R blanks did eventually increase in capacity from 640 MB to 700 MB. If you played those, perhaps an older player wouldn’t work with the higher capacity disks.
 
OP might be referring to Copy Control discs (which, technically, aren't CDs, and don't feature the CD logo on them; they are not Red Book compliant, although they manage to play in most CD players).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy_Control

They didn't last very long, as ripping software got around the scheme fairly quickly.
 
there's another type of problem that may influence this one, some players don't like CDRs
due to different reflectivity in the media. I had a car that didn't play them but several CDPs
from that era do play them.

there are some CDs that are "burned" on demand. from Amazon as I recalled. some are
so low volume that they are individually burned.

If that VR is important to you, you can get the lens cleaned (research this- there are good
and bad ways to do this -in both cases a very light touch is important), the electronics
reverified/realigned/blue-printed-back-to-original-design-specs. and a recap if its as old
as I think it is. you'll need a service manual to start this.
 
Not sure if this is a proper place for question like this, but I figure it's worth a shot.

I've had this Auto Disc Changer for as long as I can remember just lying around, and I knew it was older but I had hoped it would read newer format cds. I was unsurprisingly disappointed. Is there any way I can fix this problem by potentially replacing the laser or should I just purchase a newer model?

Also, has anyone heard of the brand of this before? I have never read anything about anyone else's piece of Vector Research equipment. My specific model is the Vector Research VCD-600R.

The cure is buying a new CD player or changer which plays the formats you want. Vector Research gear is very good as a rule.
 
Perhaps you refer to the notion that CD-R blanks did eventually increase in capacity from 640 MB to 700 MB. If you played those, perhaps an older player wouldn’t work with the higher capacity disks.

The original red book specification allowed for a +/-10% in CLV. Running a player (and disc source) at -10% data pit/land length they worked out pretty quickly they could push the limits of recorded CDs to 74mins or so before the PLLs would drop out of sync. I think some of the very early machines even managed to play just on 80 mins on some classical CDs that were pushed to absolute limit. Those discs run right on the edge of the PLL lock in many cases- many old machines don't like them.

The opposite was done (proprietary) with Yamaha. They coined the term AMQR (Audio Master Quality Recording) and took the recording velocity up by 10% to create longer pits and more distinct transitions, supposedly offering better 'sound'. The side effect was shorter recording time of 54mins on a 650M or so IIRC. I have a standalone HDD/CD recorder of theirs that can do that. The recorded discs performed very well in touchy car CD players.
 
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