CD Workings - And All You Ever Wanted To Know.

[Mr Kipling]

Found this quite comprehensive site that looks at cd playback and how various problems can be addressed.

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm

[Marco]

Oi - you've been here long enough to know that CD-related items (now moved) do not go into Blank Canvas!! ;)

Marco.

[Mr Kipling]

Sorry. Overlooked that particular category.

[Marco]

No worries, consider it simply as a soft-spank! :eyebrows:

Marco.

[nat8808]

Found this quite comprehensive site that looks at cd playback and how various problems can be addressed.

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm

ooo.. Pleased that you've posted it up here as a handily available reference!

I've seen that before and downloaded the page (just one looooong web page) for future reference but err.. my file system is just as messy as anything else so it's hard to find to check against.

I think it should be handed to every audiophile so as to prevent them dismissing every single CD player fault as irreparable and down to the laser, so they scrap perfectly good and rare lasers due to problems elsewhere..

[nat8808]

Sections like this are invaluable and also can shed light on reported effects of all sorts of mods or cabling changes, better designs of high-end CD players when people just say "Bits is Bits" and of course why File Based Audio can sound better by default against a poor player.


Symptoms may include a player where the audio becomes noisy or even stops completely or stuttering or skipping occurs, if you touch or go near it!

Note that there is an entire chapter: "Tracking (Seek and Play) Problems". However, since a possible cause of this sort of behavior is more general in nature and can affect many different aspects of CD player operation, these faults are described separately.

- One area that may be overlooked as a cause is the shielding of the pickup low level signal cable and any metal parts of the optical deck. These should all be connected to analog ground of the electronics board. If this is missing or broken, there can be all kinds of strange symptoms. If you have recently disassembled the unit and it is now behaving in this manner, this is a very slikely - easy to fix - possibility. Check for a missing ground strap, jumper, or clip. Hint: it has probably fallen under your workbench!

- External interference from a high power (or not so high power) radio station or even a light dimmer on the same circuit may make its way into the electronics and produce all sorts of strange behavior.

On some poorly designed players - or where you are located in proximity to a high power (or possibly not so high power) radio station - outside interference can get into the player via the audio cables or line cord. A light dimmer on the same circuit might also produce interference via the power supply. Once inside, almost any type of behavior is possible. If your problems seem to depend on the time of day, check out this possibility by relocating the CD player and seeing if the behavior changes substantially. Disconnect the audio cables and see if it now displays the disc directory and appears to play properly - try headphones if possible.

It may be difficult to eliminate the effects of this interference without moving the radio station or not using your favorite lamp. However, relocating the CD player or even just its cables and/or plugging it into a different outlet may help. Fortunately, these sorts of problems are not that common.

[Mr Kipling]

That Lampizator bloke holds the view that something like 90% of "laser failure" is down to other factors.

[nat8808]

It's probably right too.

[Mr Kipling]

Found this:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=440522

Somebody's nicked Beobloke's avatar. The cheek of it.