Arcam CD192 problem

[gwynne61]

Hello resident experts, looking for some help with a problem on my Arcam CD192. It has had the laser replaced twice in recent years by Arcam due to skipping and disc read problems. Of late it has been fussy over reading certain discs, upon putting the discs into my bluray player and car cd they work fine.

A few weeks ago I did the usual checks on the laser lens and associated mechanism which both seemed fine to my untrained eye and the player was working mostly well except for occasional disc read and skip problems, usually on the 1st track of a cd.

Last night I gave thought to replacing the entire lens mechanism as it seems straightforward and quite cheap for what was a fairly costly bit of kit. I removed the lid and made a note of the lens number and mechanism reference, but didn't actually touch and of the gubbins. It has now decided to play up and the drawer closes and the display then reads close, but there seems to be no attempt to read any disc and the drawer usually pops open a few seconds later.

My thoughts are either the lens is totally shot or a sensor that tells it to read the disc has played up.

I would be really grateful for any help that may be offered to help solve the problem.

 

[Mr Morph]

To be honest it could be any number of things... Haven't got my laser list to hand, but from memory I think the mechanism is a linear tracking Sony (probably a KSS 213).

Unplug from the mains, and take the hood off. Take a look at the tracking shafts that the laser sled travels along. Quite often dirt builds up at the end of the shafts (spindle end). This prevents the laser from moving to the inner most position and reading the table of contents. If this is the case, simply cleaning excess dirt or grease away from the ends will allow the laser to move to the inner most position.

As for skipping, this is rarely a symptom of a failing laser. More often the laser skips because of the lack of lubrication on the tracking shafts, or dust on the optics causes a focus problem. Say one thing though, replacing the laser twice in the same machine shows some dedication to it!

Failing the above, I can't help you any further I'm afraid.

 

[gwynne61]

Thanks for the reply Mr Morph, I'll try again, but the laser sled seems quite clean and I can't work out why the close message shows when the tray is shut, which is probably why the laser isn't trying to read the discs as it thinks the drawer is partially open.

 

[gwynne61]

Update on this annoying issue, I've changed the entire cd laser mechanism and still the player says close on the display and does not attempt to read discs.

Any ideas as to the cause of the problem? My logic is saying tray micro switches but I have no idea where they may be located.