CD Player Skipping on First Track

[delory]

Hi everyone,

I'm having a strange problem with a Marantz cdp where the first track on every cd won't play. Disc loads and displays the TOC. If you forward to track 2 (or any other track) the entire cd plays perfectly. But if you try to play track 1, it either won't read, or goes crazy and jumps immediately to track 2.

This happens with every cd, so I thought the mech was faulty, and replaced it (cdm12.1/vam1201). I've repaired many players over the years so have a good stock of new mechs around, but after replacing it, I had exactly the same problem! So I tried a third mech, and the same thing happened, so it's not the lasers that are causing the problem.

I've looked for 'obvious' problems, such as something jamming the laser/sled so it can't move right to the end of the track, or the ribbon cable being pulled tight, or any of the leads being too short, etc. The laser itself can freely move from one end to the other, and as I said, three different mechs would not have the same problem.

Anyone ever experience anything similar? I'm a bit baffled at the moment.

[stephensank]

Perhaps a dying lytic cap in the platter motor servo, preventing it properly running at top speed?

[delory]

If that were the case, would that not stop it reading the TOC, which is located before the first track?

[percival007]

Strangely enough no, not always!

Is it an original Philips part you have put in? I only ask as i replaced a VAM.... in a Cyrrus recently with a non-original and had a similar problem.

It turned out to be the Platter height which wasn't quite right. I could find no published spec for this so it was a case of trial and error with lots of different discs untill i got it right.

[delory]

That's very interesting that you say that, as the platter height was slightly low, and the disc was scraping very slightly on ....well, something, not sure what.... but I adjusted it fractionally, by just prising it up, less than a millimetre I would guess, but enough to make the disc rotate freely. Do you think it's possible that that could cause this problem? I've never really thought about the platter height before, just accepted it as it is. I would have thought that would affect the playing on other tracks as well, but couldn't be sure. I should add that I was having the same problem before adjusting it, but still, it is worth considering.

How do you tell if it is an original part by the way? The labels on the original that I tool out of the player, and the replacement seem to be the same, and neither says Philips.

[percival007]

Originally Posted by delory

...............the disc was scraping very slightly on ....well, something, not sure what.....

Probably the rear of the laser block.

Originally Posted by delory

...............Do you think it's possible that that could cause this problem?..........

Oh yes.

Originally Posted by delory

...............I would have thought that would affect the playing on other tracks as well............

It's amazing though true that discs do 'warp' a little when on the platter so can get 'closer' to the laser lens at the outer edges and so can be read more easily. Most players now do an 'Automatic Adjustment' every time the disc drawer is closed. Unfortunately this cannot be 100% especially on wearing or faulty parts. It was always better in my opinion when all adjustments were done manually when replacing the laser block such as on the early Pioneer kit. They had adjustments for everything!!

Originally Posted by delory

...............How do you tell if it is an original part by the way? The labels on the original that I tool out of the player, and the replacement seem to be the same, and neither says Philips.

Difficult one that. The laser i bought had all the correct labels on it but was bought from a 'generic' supplier so cannot be certain it was original. Maybe it was and i was just unlucky. I just seem to have been 'unlucky' quite a lot recently with Philips lasers. Maybe quality is declining? I just have no route of buying Original Philips Spares any longer, i.e. from Philips direct so have to go through 'suppliers'.

[Stanga]

SEME in the UK and Donberg Electronics in Ireland sell original Philips parts. CPC Farnell also used to stock originals, but I don't know if that is still the case.

[fastvideo]

After I did the power supply mod on a working Magnavox cdp.
Then, I had this problem.
I tried swapping cd mechanism and all the servo ics no luck.
Until the micro processor XC99659P then unit works fine.