Defective Quad CD 66 cd player

[j.postema]

Hi,

it has been a while since my last visit at this forum, but I'm still enjoying audio. I'm currently in the process of building a new, bigger, pair of electrostatic loudspeakers.

Unfortunately my second hand Quad 66 cd player started to make unpleasant audio sounds and started to skip at some tracks of almost new cd's.

I first bought a Quad 606 MKII power amp and added a Quad 66 pre-amp, all second hand. Later on I bought the CD player. All devices were bought from different sellers. Unfortunately just after buying the cd player it started skipping. I managed to make the seller do a repair but unfortunately after about 1 year of usage it starts skipping again.

I'm not sure what to do now: I already owned a Marantz cd player before buying the Quad, but even though it works ok and was very affordable @75 euro's compared to the Quad cd player @300 euro's, I never liked the tray of the Marantz as after a too short time-out it automatically closes, a feature I dislike. It also lacks rubber pads in the tray itself. Furthermore the tray on the Marantz opens about 80% (by design), which foreces me to do more effort to position the cd diagonally into the tray. But it does play all cd's without skipping...

I'm not sure if there is an audible difference between both players, but I remember the Quad having a subtle better sound, but this could be a placebo thing.

The Quad cd player fits much better esthetically to the Quad power amp than the Marantz. I dislike most modern cd players as they look too shiny for my taste.

I'm wondering what to do? I could try find a repairman, but I don't have much confidence as this player is old and I'm afraid of future problems.

I could buy a new Quad Artera set, but this will be a big investment for me:

Quad Artera Stereo + Quad Artera Play Plus: 2700 euro's
Quad Artera Solus: 1800 euro's

I could buy a more recent second hand Quad cd player, but after this experience I'm a little scared for new technical problems.

Do you have any ideas what would be a good option? How about the Quad Artera sound quality and overall product quality compared to my older Quad 606MK2 / CD 66? Would the Quad Artera Solus be stable enough to drive big electrostatic panels? How about repairing my current CD 66 player?

[struth]

A good age the 66 now.. Philips mech I think so parts are probably available at a price. The power boards often give problems too. Caps mostly

[Macca]

Skipping can be a number of different issues, some of which are not that complex to resolve - have a read of this thread, it covers pretty much every issue you can encounter and explains how to fix them (if possible) https://www.audiokarma.org/forums/in...layers.440522/

[j.postema]

Hi, thanks for your replies and directions. I will study the article at audiokarma, it looks interesting. At least I could give it a try and try fixing it myself, if possible... I will keep you updated

[j.postema]

Hi, my old Quad cd player performs ok but sometimes it is still skipping. So I came up with the idea of buying an Artera Play+ to serve as a cd player and pre-amp and combine it with the 606 MK2. Would that make a good match?

[spendorman]

A good age the 66 now.. Philips mech I think so parts are probably available at a price. The power boards often give problems too. Caps mostly

All my fault, I suggested to Ross Walker that Quad used Philips.