Marantz CD85 problems

[Tweedle12]

Dear All,

I recently purchased this item as a non-working unit, but it is in such fine condition it seems a sin to strip it for parts. The display illuminates all of the segments all of the time and the control bottons on the unit do not function. The previous owner siad that the player can operate via a remote, but I have not been able to substantiate that. There may be an issue with the CDM1 mk2 mechanism, but I may have one spare, so this is not so critical.

Can anyone shed some light on the display/contol issues described above? Would a repair be complicated and worth investigating?

Many thanks,
TD

[stephensank]

I would be very surprised if the problem or problems with the unit are not entirely caused by failing Philips, Siemens and/or Matsushita/Panasonic eletrolytic capacitors. Odds are very good that if you replace every cap that is not a Nichicon, the unit will come back to life & be quite an excellent sounding player.

[Tweedle12]

Many thanks for that - thought that be the recommendation as I had read similar advice about a CD94 somewhere.

Cheers,
TD

[UV101]

There are 5 33uf (check value) blue elco caps on the mech that will need replacing. Do a search on CDM-1 and similar, I've posted pics before. If you turn nothing up, post again and I'll dig the info out. I normally use oscon here.

[Tweedle12]

Can anyone help - I have now found a spare CD85 and just want to transplant the main circuit board -need to remove the rear panel to do this - but this is far from straight forward. Anyone have any experience of working on a Marantz CD85 - is there anyway of removing the rear panel without unsoldering the mains cables, etc?

Many thanks to anyone who can help,

Kind regards,
TD

[Tweedle12]

Anyone with experience of working on a CD85?

Thanks,
TD

[amc184]

The Marantz CD85 isn't a common player, so I think you're going to have a hard time finding people with any first hand experience of working on it.

The problem you're having could be caused by a whole heap of things. What you describe isn't a common problem, so there probably won't be a quick and easy fix. Since you've got a spare player, swapping boards is something I'd try. Is the spare player going fine?

It's also worth investigating whether the player responds to a remote control. I think this player is controlled by RC5, so many Philips / Marantz remotes will work. If you've got remotes for other Philips / Marantz CD players give them a try.