View Full Version : Aaaggh - sick Cambridge Audio CA840C CD player
Hi All,
I've noticed that output has suddenly dropped on the right channel on my CA 840C - probably by about 20%. I thought the sound had gone off somewhat, confirmed by the fact that my SB Touch now sounds better than it does (definately not the case before!).
Any ideas as to what I can look at before sending it away for a profesional to look at?
Regards,
Alex
OK, anyone know of a tried and trusted repair technician in SW London / Surrey who may be able to take a look?
Regards,
Alex
You should be able to get it fixed through Richer Sounds, must be one quite near to you. IME they won't mess you about.
You should be able to get it fixed through Richer Sounds, must be one quite near to you. IME they won't mess you about.
Richer Sounds were unable to fix my Cambridge Audio CD player, they had it nearly 4 weeks and it was still not working. :doh:
Richer Sounds were unable to fix my Cambridge Audio CD player, they had it nearly 4 weeks and it was still not working. :doh:
Did they say why?
No, they said it was fixed but when I got it home it was exactly the same, never been back! :steam: "Buy cheap buy twice" springs to mind.
Well an 840c is not cheap, Iguess you had one from lower down the range. If you e-mailed Julian Richer about it you would probably get a result, depends on whether you think it is worth the hassle.
I was passing judgement on mine being cheap, no-one elses. That's why it wasn't worth complaining, they were quite happy with their efforts.
If they take a unit for servicing, I believe they have a duty of care to getting it fixed properly. Irrespective of the cost, if they tried to repare it and failed, then they should have been notifed of this and at least had one more chance to fix it...
I had a fairly similar fault with my now all but valueless Arcam Delta 80 tuner, where one channel went down with distortion. After replacing the decoder chip, a follow-on op-amp and a couple of transistors to no avail, I was about to give up and then remembered the MUTING TRANSISTORS... Replacing this on the dud channel restored everything to full working order and once again I have a great sounding and incredibly undervalued FM/AM tuner which will see FM out I reckon...
I obviously have no idea if the 840C has such things (many players do), but this is *possibly* what it could be. Richer MUST have a half decent service dept - if they didn't, they're big enough for us all to know by now - so my advice is to call in and ask..
To complicate matters further, my 840C has been significantly upgraded by Audiocom, so there might be a risk that the main board might get tossed in the bin!.
I admit I hadn't thought of taking it back to Richer sounds for service - presumably I can instruct them to take a look and report before doing anything. If there are board level repairs, maybe Mark at Audiocom will take a look at it.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Alex
Just a quick update on the happy ending to this saga.
Richer Sounds notified me that the DAC board couldn't be repaired, and that they would need to replace it. Fair enough, I thought. The quotation was c£250 to fix, which caused me to suck my teeth a little, but I authorized them to begin the repair work.
About eight weeks passed, and I hadn't heard back from them so I started to chase for an update. Apparently they didn't have any spares stock, and were waiting for a batch to be send from China. I said that the repair had taken an unacceptable time amount of time, and because no definite timescale could be stated for completion of the repairs I wasn't prepared to wait any longer. At this point I was expecting them to waive the repair fee and return the player to me unfixed.
The customer services team exceeded my expectations and said that they would supply me with a brand new unit FOC, and that my third-party pieces would also be returned to me.
This is outstanding customer service, albeit with a little prompting from me, and a very generous offer given that the player was purchased in August 2008.
Hats of to Richer Sounds for their willingness to stand behind the product, and look after their customers.
Regards,
Alex
Nice outcome. I know the knowledge of the front of shop guys is sometimes not the best, but they (as a company)do seem to still care about customer relations, even if it is for retention purposes!
I would have contacted Mark Bartlett at Audiocom as he had it last. Nice guy AFAIAA. Now you at least have a working unit, but un-blinged:scratch:
The service team have agreed to return the Audiocom clock module, regulator and the faulty main board, so I will have the opportunity to re-bling it again if I want to get brave with the soldering iron ;).
I thought it was very good of Richer sounds to take the hit and supply a NIB unit, as although it is now superseded it still would be offered for >£600 on clearance.
I'm late seeing this but glad you got it sorted. I think you just had bad luck with the unit, if you only had the Audiocom clock and its psu fitted its highly unlikely this had anything to do with the faulty channel of the cdp (just incase you had any doubts in having the clock refitted)
If a clock goes faulty you'd get somethng like the disc spinning out of control
sq225917
28-06-2012, 21:22
Frankly that amazing service replacing a modified unit.
Simon, I thought so too. I was fairly surprised that they accepted the repair job at all. I can only assume it was in recompense for not being able to source parts in an acceptable timeframe, but even so...
Regards,
Alex
sq225917
29-06-2012, 01:41
Look at it this way though. That one story repeated across the internet just before their 850cd comes out- has to be sales gold. ;-)
So..... It gets better :)
Richer Sounds couldn't fulfill their.promise of a new 840c as there was.no stock left, so they decided to give me a new 851c instead. Given the.list price of nearly £1200, I didn't take too long to think over the offer of an upgrade to a brand new, superior player with warranty for £128.
That is rather generous, I think, to put it mildly!.
I will post my.listening impressions once I've burned it in and have had an extended listen.
Regards,
Alex
That is an outstanding result, I've always received excellent service from the company. Very well done Richer Sounds... :clapclapclap:
sq225917
04-07-2012, 22:35
Simply amazing.
Audioman
05-07-2012, 09:42
I'm gobsmacked by this level of customer service. Given the machine was modified they were perfectly entitled to tell Alex to piss off. To get a £1200 new machine 'free' is an incredible result. Does tempt me to investigate Cambridge as an affordable alternative to expensive bling. Some of their more upmarket products certainly get good reviews.
This story of course will do wonders for their sales and reputation but I can't imagine many companies having the forsight to persue such a policy. Some only flinch on legit complaints in the face of bad media publicity.
Although I have now sold it on to a friend, I owned a Cambridge Audio A1 Special Edition amp for many years. Although it's no powerhouse it is a lovely little amp with a very passable sound and the build quality is simply stunning for the price. I paid 40 quid for it from Richer Sounds Leicester branch due to it being an ex-display model and they had lost all the packaging. It's still going strong driving a pair of KEF Q35-2's which my friend also bought off me and he is very happy with the system.
hard1175
05-07-2012, 12:01
Hi All,
I've noticed that output has suddenly dropped on the right channel on my CA 840C - probably by about 20%. I thought the sound had gone off somewhat, confirmed by the fact that my SB Touch now sounds better than it does (definately not the case before!).
Any ideas as to what I can look at before sending it away for a profesional to look at?
Regards,
Alex
Hi Alex
You could try John Chinnock he’s based in Godstone Surrey 01883 743402. I have used his services on several occasions with excellent results and have recommended him to friends.
Regards Bernie
Audioman
05-07-2012, 14:02
Hi Alex
You could try John Chinnock he’s based in Godstone Surrey 01883 743402. I have used his services on several occasions with excellent results and have recommended him to friends.
Regards Bernie
The machine has been replaced with a new one. Read the thread !
Hi Alex
You could try John Chinnock he’s based in Godstone Surrey 01883 743402. I have used his services on several occasions with excellent results and have recommended him to friends.
Regards Bernie
Thanks Bernie - am not in need of a service engineer right now, but will bear it in mind for the future.
Regards,
Alex
Hi all,
I purchased a new 840C maybe 2.5 years ago, and within the first year I started having the same dropout problem in the one analog output channel. Did not matter if I used the RCA out or the XLR out, nor what cable was used, and did not matter what amp it was connected to. All other devices worked fine with no dropouts.
I took it to the dealer while still in warranty, and we could not recreate the problem. Then when the unit was about 1.5 years old it got worse with barely any audio from the one channel, and back it went to the dealer. This time it was apparent as soon as we hooked it up to any of his in stock amps.
We noticed that if the unit was left powered on, after a few minutes the audio would return to almost normal output level in the faulty channel. Since the unit was past warranty, the dealer recommended I just leave it powered up all the time. I did this and it worked ok for maybe a few months, and then all output died from the faulty channel. At this point the unit was about 2 - 2.5 years old. I had a local repair shop look at it, but they could not fix the unit and said it would need to be shipped back to Cambridge Audio.
I knew the expense would be too much (I am in Canada) so it just sits on a shelf now, collecting dust.
A real shame. In 40 years of collecting hi-fi gear, the first piece I have ever owned that failed me, and in such a short time span.
It is a great sounding player and I was very happy with the sound quality. Now, I use my Oppo BDP-83 as transport with coax out to my Audiolab M-DAC.
I purchased the M-DAC as a replacement, as most of my music is from local HDD connected to Logitech SB Touch. I was primarily using the 840C in the same manner, with the SB Touch feeding coax into the 840C, but no more after it died.
A shame that the local repair shops can't fix it for a reasonable cost. I paid about $1,800 CDN for the unit, and got only 2.5 years out of it.
sq225917
13-09-2012, 08:34
Paul, do they not have a Canadian service agent? Maybe you could just remove the dac board, it comes out easily enough for shipping?
Hi Simon,
Do you happen to know if it is just a case of removing and replacing the DAC board? If so, I will take a look at that avenue. The local repair shop here after testing assumed after process of elimination that the fault was in the DAC, which they could not service.
Yes, there is a service agent in Eastern Canada. I'll see if I can hunt down their number and give them a call.
Thanks.
Hi,
Only just caught up with this thread. In my case, the engineer diagnosed a failure of o.e of the analogue devices DAC chips. Your symptoms sound very similar to what I experienced in that I had a gradual loss of output on the right channel that evolved into complete silence.
It should be repairable if you.can find someone capable of doing smt component level repairs. As Simon suggests, the main circuit board can be removed easily from the case to reduce shipping costs - speak to the service agent to see if they work on it like that, but it seems likely that they would need the complete chassis to test it.
Get a quote for the job before you go too far, but it seems a shame to scrap it when it could be reasonably easily repaired by someone with the right skills. If you Google bios chip replacement you can see how it is done. Unfortunately there don't appear to be any DAC boards available as spares, so it will need repair. I was quoted about £150 for a new DAC board. It might be worth checking with Cambridge Audio in the UK to see if they have spares so that you could attempt a drop in replacement - they may give you a credit for the old one if you posted it to them.
Good luck.
Alex
Thanks to Simon and some others with suggestions, I've found the distributor for Cambridge Audio in Canada, at www.plurison.com. My 840C will be delivered to them in Quebec this weekend, and they are quoting up to $250 CDN to repair it, and they have lots of experience with Cambridge Audio servicing. So sounds like a good deal, and quite excited to get it there and back into use. The 840C may or may not have some reliabilit problems, but it's a great sounding deck and very versatile with the digital inputs.
Thanks again to all who suggested to getting this fixed. Not so expensive as I had imagined.
Paul
Good news - would be interested to hear what their diagnosis is.
Regards,
Alex
chris@panteg
29-09-2012, 09:36
I'm a similar situation with my 740A , been waiting since 24 of July , it looks from the last phone call that the amp maybe beyond repair ? And it's a discontinued model .
That's surprising - I wouldn't have thought that there was much an amplifier that couldn't be repaired and/or replaced at a discrete component level. What was the nature of the problem?.
Maybe such is the nature of products made by companies that have contracted out manufacture to the Chinese, but if so that would be disappointing. Personally I hate the thought of something going to be scrapped when it could be repaired - maybe it is just a question of economics and the high cost of engineer's bench time that makes repair infeasible.
As per my experience, perhaps Richer Sounds may be accomodating w.r.t. a replacement. As I wrote above, I got a full credit for the purchase price of my 840c against the 851c, which made it something of a no-brainer!.
Regards,
Alex
chris@panteg
29-09-2012, 10:13
Hi Alex
It's been very frustrating , the problem is the protection circuit , it's failed for some reason ? They told me that they had the replacement part at the end of August , but now there seems to be other problems ? Which is unclear ? My wife has taken over proceedings as she used to work in customer services , she's doing a great job I must say ! She has fantastic people skills which I lack .
The problem is if it has to be replaced , then to what ? I don't fancy the 650A , I may pay the difference and ask for a Marrantz pearl lite , would like one of those .
Thanks to Simon and some others with suggestions, I've found the distributor for Cambridge Audio in Canada, at www.plurison.com. My 840C will be delivered to them in Quebec this weekend, and they are quoting up to $250 CDN to repair it, and they have lots of experience with Cambridge Audio servicing. So sounds like a good deal, and quite excited to get it there and back into use. The 840C may or may not have some reliabilit problems, but it's a great sounding deck and very versatile with the digital inputs.
Thanks again to all who suggested to getting this fixed. Not so expensive as I had imagined.
Paul
Paul, I've sold Cambridge Audio since the mid 90s & the problem with MPC has been there since the 300 & 500SEs. Unfortunately all failures IME have ocurred outside the warranty period, by then they are not official failures.
On inspection, every one of the failed units showed signs of over-heating & profound changes in the properties in the thermal paste used to mount the MPC to the board. It,s a gross irritation in the fundermental orifice as I like the product & the way it sounds.
sq225917
02-10-2012, 11:38
Chris there's a lot of SMT in their amps but any decent engineer should be able to fix it for you, maybe they just can't get the actual part and don't want to 'bodge' a fix with none standard parts, it will only be relays and maybe an IC.
sq225917
02-10-2012, 14:01
Ask them for a detailed description of what is faulty, the parts involved and how the fault presents itself. Odds to sods it can be fixed easily by a 'willing' tech. Jez Arkless has just repaired my Muse 200 for £120 and he'd never even seen inside one of their products before.
Of course if the replacement options are good then go with that.
chris@panteg
02-10-2012, 15:28
Ask them for a detailed description of what is faulty, the parts involved and how the fault presents itself. Odds to sods it can be fixed easily by a 'willing' tech. Jez Arkless has just repaired my Muse 200 for £120 and he'd never even seen inside one of their products before.
Of course if the replacement options are good then go with that.
I deleted my previous comments , just thought it was maybe too off topic .
An update on my 840c CD player. Plurison has done the repair and I am waiting for return delivery. This was the problem where the output died in one channel.
It seems there were failed capacitors which were:
10uf 63Vdc capacitor
470uf 35Vdc capacitor
The repair cost was only $80 CDN
I'll find out early next week how it sounds.
So looking up at this point.
sq225917
27-10-2012, 08:12
That's a decent value for money repair cost.
Good outcome - well done - That seems quite inexpensive, did you have shipping on top?. I wonder where these caps were?.
Interested to hear if it is fully back on song once you get it back.
I have my CA 840C back now, and it works great again. All for $80, and the cost of shipping.
Now however I have the Audiolab M-DAC and the DAC that is in the 840C...
I found an article on the web, where a reviewer said the 840C works best as a transport in pass through mode, feeding an outboard DAC. Never had a second DAC to test with before, but now can with the M-DAC.
I tested the CD player by itself for a couple of days comparing to the M-DAC, and a little like splitting hairs, each with pluses and minuses.
So I tried the 840C in pass through mode. Connect the digital out on the 840C, and from the menu set it to "pass through" mode (no upsampling or filtering, just bits...) and then fed into the M-DAC digital input.
WOW!
The reviewer was way right! Here is the link for you 840C owners -- http://www.dagogo.com/View-Article.asp?hArticle=139
This combination (with my gear) really blew away the standalone DAC in the 840C or the M-DAC. Go figure. I guess something to be said for separating transport from DAC. You might think that adding another connection in the chain would make things worse, not better.
I have done a bunch of A-B comparisons by simply moving the analog RCA out from the M-DAC to the 840C, back and forth, and the difference is incredible. Each time using the same digital and analog cables, the only difference being switching the analog out from M-DAC to 840C, with these feeding into my preamp RCA input.
My feeling here, is that the digital out circuitry in the 840C is so much better quality than the digital out in my other sources, which are an Oppo BDP-83 Blu Ray and a Logitech Squeezebox Touch (with USB 500GB HDD), which previously were connected to the inputs on the M-DAC. Now those are connected to the 840C, and the 840C digital output sent to the M-DAC. The M-DAC RCA analog out goes to preamp.
BTW, I also tested the 840C in "upsample" mode when connected to the M-DAC, and this sounds terrible with the data being upsampled twice. The 840C has to be in pass through mode when used as a transport with an outboard DAC.
Huge benefits in doing this. I was worried about having 2 DAC's and having wasted my money on the M-DAC (a great DAC....), but now have the best of both worlds. A great disc and digital transport in the 840C, and the flexibility of the M-DAC filters and USB connection for my PC.
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