Dying or adjusting CD?

[Jennice]

Hi Everyone,

Either my 11 year old Onkyo DX-706 CD player needs adjustment or maintenance, or its laser is slowly dying. (These are my guesses, anyway).

Some discs (especially CD-R discs) are no longer play-able, and when pressing the button to change track, it has problems finding the track, especially the higher track numbers. Sometimes it helps to skip past a track (to the next which it can't find either), and then go backwards!?

Does anyone know what is wrong, and a cure for it?

[mrfeedback]

Take a close look at the laser pickup assy.
Does it have a KSS or other ID label ?.

Eric.

[Jennice]

Hi Eric,

I'm not sure what I'm looking for.

The closest I get to an answer is that the picture shows what I could see. Maybe the lable makes sense to you...?

Thanks -
Jennice

[mrfeedback]

Thanks, that is what I was looking for.
The pickups that I mentioned are cheap and easily available, however the one that you have may not be.
First things to do include resoldering the regulators/power supplies, cleaning and relubing the sled rails, and maybe upping the laser power.
You may find a pot marked APC on the main board - mark this carefully so you have a reference, and try increasing the output a little.
Try this - if no joy send a photo of the main board.

Eric.

[Jennice]

Hi Eric,

So far I've tried the easy ways... relubing seems to have an effect

Thanks!
Jennice

[ashok]

Hi Eric ,
What do you use to lubricate the sledge. I see some whitish residue. Doesn't look like silicon grease which I have. Mine is translucent and is possibly more viscous. This I think is a metal to plastic contact. Any place where they recommend the types of lubricants to use in cd player transports?
Thanks,
Ashok.

[mrfeedback]

I remove old lubricants with tissue and/or cotton buds and/or solvents, and then relube with Dexron II Automatic Transmission lubricant.
I have used this for decades now and it works fine.
NEVER use sewing machine oil, because it evaporates and then emulsifies and oxidises and then seizes.

Eric.

[Pixo]

Hi Jennice,
You've said that CD-Rs give you more trouble. Since your player is 11 years old, it might have problems reading CD-Rs recorded at higher speeds. When recorded at speeds more than 16x, the pits on the CDs don't form well and the player has a hard time finding the tracks. This even happens on PC drives that are four years old or even less. The higher track numbers are located at the outer edges of the CD and that part of the CD spins the fastest. So naturally, it is not able to compensate with the difference in speed. The next time you record a CD, try burning it at 8x. 4x is even better. Then try playing the CD. You should have no problems.

Have a nice time

[Jennice]

Hi Pixo !

What an interesting theory...
It never crossed my mind, but now that you mention it, it sounds reasonable

I'll try that, and see what happens.

In general, this should mean that the burning of a CD is technically better when done at lower recording speed. This could influence storage time before it becomes un-readable due to old age.

It's off track for this thead I know... but an interesting aspect!

Thanks for bringing it to my attention
Jennice

[ashok]

When buying high speed CD-R's from a Singapore shop , the shop keeper asked us what we were going to record on it. When we said music , he said not to record over 8X speed - no matter how fast the disc is rated. So 4 X should be ideal. I have done discs up to 12x and they play fine on my ancient Rotel 855 machine. To be sure , 4x could be the safest speed.
Cheers.