Nice cdplayer if you can live with its peculiarities. I recently wrecked a unrepairable CD3 which is very similar ( less wiring, nicer pcb ) but I kept some parts/boards/remote. I also have a spare laser for it ( CD3 had CDM 1 however ).
The display problems and tray with its own character are standard, after all it is british
I would not put too much time and/or money in it.
The display problems and tray with its own character are standard, after all it is british
I would not put too much time and/or money in it.
Stick with the Rotel, it is OK and listens to the boss. The CD2/CD3 players are a bit like girlfriends. When you want to play a disk CD2 does not want that. After a few futile attempts it'll accept your command and it will start playing but with unreadable response on the display.
They do sound good ( their single quality ) but they are stubborn disobedient machines. Casing is even worse than the plastic Philips boxes.
They do sound good ( their single quality ) but they are stubborn disobedient machines. Casing is even worse than the plastic Philips boxes.
CDM2 mechanism - are you sure?
Just to reiterate Jean Paul's point - are you absolutely sure yours has a CDM2 mechanism?
My dead-'ish' CD2 has a CDM4 and I happen to know that the player was specifically designed around it. Maybe it was replaced - If it was, hunt around for a CDM4 - It will read just about anything.
I managed to get a complete service manual from Cambridge, as a result of a connection I used to have with the company. Its like no other, with a long, rambling explanation (from the unit's designer, Stan Curtis) of the rationale behind the design, etc, etc. It (along with my CD2) is at the other end of the country, where a friend has been playing around with it. I'll get hold of it and post it here.
The service manual also explains what the various fault codes that appear on the display from time mean (and how to clear them).
Jean Paul, you sound like you know my girlfriend...
Just to reiterate Jean Paul's point - are you absolutely sure yours has a CDM2 mechanism?
My dead-'ish' CD2 has a CDM4 and I happen to know that the player was specifically designed around it. Maybe it was replaced - If it was, hunt around for a CDM4 - It will read just about anything.
I managed to get a complete service manual from Cambridge, as a result of a connection I used to have with the company. Its like no other, with a long, rambling explanation (from the unit's designer, Stan Curtis) of the rationale behind the design, etc, etc. It (along with my CD2) is at the other end of the country, where a friend has been playing around with it. I'll get hold of it and post it here.
The service manual also explains what the various fault codes that appear on the display from time mean (and how to clear them).
Jean Paul, you sound like you know my girlfriend...
It has a cdm2/29, it says so on the mechanism.
And wonderous things still happen...
I opened the player up to look at it. Then I closed it up again. It seems to play fine!
The right LED display however is blinking all the time, apparently switching between displaying time and something else. The left hand display (track etc.) is working fine. Also the Disc Error light blinks now and then, although I can`t hear anything going wrong over the speakers. And one LED light seems to be out (horizontal bar in the middle of one 8)
Additionally, the player cracks (over the speakers) when I open and close the drawer.
Could it be a grounding problem?
I've just started to look at it properly now. More errors may appear!
And I would love to see the manual! Thanks!
Regards,
Berend
And wonderous things still happen...
I opened the player up to look at it. Then I closed it up again. It seems to play fine!
The right LED display however is blinking all the time, apparently switching between displaying time and something else. The left hand display (track etc.) is working fine. Also the Disc Error light blinks now and then, although I can`t hear anything going wrong over the speakers. And one LED light seems to be out (horizontal bar in the middle of one 8)
Additionally, the player cracks (over the speakers) when I open and close the drawer.
Could it be a grounding problem?
I've just started to look at it properly now. More errors may appear!
And I would love to see the manual! Thanks!
Regards,
Berend
I'd be very interested in that service manual too.. a buddy of mine has owned one for over 10 years.. even picked up a second on Ebay for pretty cheap. I've been reverse engineering it and fixing things up, some months ago. He wanted me to look at it because of a slight hum it picked up.. turned out 2 out of the 4 TDA1541A's were blown and cooking themselves on their little boards! Ordered some new ones, and it sounded SO much better! Kinda shocked that it would sound so good with half the DAC's dead!
A very interesting design, rather different... I'd like to read the notes on the design idea. The display problems that they ALL seem to get should be easy to fix.. There are a LOT of area's that can be improved on in this model, power supplies, buffering or reclocking the digital lines from the main board to the outboard DAC/line out section, better clock, improved I/V, etc. It's rather an econo job for what was about an $1800 player back when they were new... but 4 TDA1541's summed together make for a very respectable player, even stock...
I'll see if I can check them for which drives the two he has has...
Cambridge CD2
I spent a lot of time upgrading my original CD2 but it is now also dead and in need of repair. If there is a service manual available I would be interested in getting hold of a copy as I would like to resurect it one day.
The CD2 runs the DACs hotter than usual by using over 6 volts on the supply instead of the standatd 5, without the heatsinks and good ventilation they do cook over time. I removed the TDA1541 DACs from the daughter boards on mine added IC sockets and modified the PCB so that they accept TDA1541A chips. I got 4 of the S1 variety and it sounded superb for a few years till it cooked and killed them.
The main area to get improvements is the power supply decoupling (lots of polypropylene and silver mica capacitors work wonders) as well as reworking the ground routing. The transformer was converted to a torroidal and moved to a seperate box.
Other enhancements were to fit IC sockets and upgrade the 5534 Op amps to AD845 and also replace the standard 1% resistors with holco 0.1% for the current to voltage converters. I installed an additional Op Amp stage to get rid of the two output capacitors which was tuned to remove the DC offset and produce a fully DC coupled output stage.
Obviously the display died long ago but the player worked well for years without it. I eventually bought a Cambrigde CD5 but that couldn't even compare to the standard CD2 so I upgraded again to an Audiolab 8000CD/8000DAX which is very respectable. I'd still like to hear it next to my old CD2 though.
It's been a few years now and I can't exactly remember whats wrong with the old CD2 but if I can get hold of a manual I'll dig out my oscilloscope and have a probe around it.
I spent a lot of time upgrading my original CD2 but it is now also dead and in need of repair. If there is a service manual available I would be interested in getting hold of a copy as I would like to resurect it one day.
The CD2 runs the DACs hotter than usual by using over 6 volts on the supply instead of the standatd 5, without the heatsinks and good ventilation they do cook over time. I removed the TDA1541 DACs from the daughter boards on mine added IC sockets and modified the PCB so that they accept TDA1541A chips. I got 4 of the S1 variety and it sounded superb for a few years till it cooked and killed them.
The main area to get improvements is the power supply decoupling (lots of polypropylene and silver mica capacitors work wonders) as well as reworking the ground routing. The transformer was converted to a torroidal and moved to a seperate box.
Other enhancements were to fit IC sockets and upgrade the 5534 Op amps to AD845 and also replace the standard 1% resistors with holco 0.1% for the current to voltage converters. I installed an additional Op Amp stage to get rid of the two output capacitors which was tuned to remove the DC offset and produce a fully DC coupled output stage.
Obviously the display died long ago but the player worked well for years without it. I eventually bought a Cambrigde CD5 but that couldn't even compare to the standard CD2 so I upgraded again to an Audiolab 8000CD/8000DAX which is very respectable. I'd still like to hear it next to my old CD2 though.
It's been a few years now and I can't exactly remember whats wrong with the old CD2 but if I can get hold of a manual I'll dig out my oscilloscope and have a probe around it.
Yep, sounds similar to what I found out and did to this model. My friend only with great worry allowed me to look around inside.. then it was a battle to gain the confidence of changing things.. He still only has let me make a few changes, though.
Without any documentation, I did reverse engineer the DAC section even to the point of creating schematics in Orcad, which I'd be willing to share.. especially for that service manual!
I did upgrade the I/V resistors, and on the two boards that were cooked, put in sockets and quality bypassing. I also "socketized" the 4 DAC boards, so we could pull them out at will, and do things like compare a single stock board with the board using different I/V op amps, or better power bypassing caps. Made a believer out of him on modding.
I agree with you on the many things that could be improved a LOT in this unit.. the power supply is noisy, the clocks and digital signals are horrible... long long cables from the main board, and NO DECOUPLING at all on the "secret" board (actually a bunch of 74LS166's time shifiting the wc and data lines for the 4 DAC's) which floored me. For a "high end" unit, the build quality was surprizingly cheap.. Of course this means you can make a lot of worthy improvements.
I still would like to try: local low noise regulated power to the DAC's or even each one with it's own set, redistribute the data and clock so it gets there undistorted, reclock the data/clock lines to the DAC section, and or add a good low jitter master clock.
A note on the heat.. on this model, there were little aluminum plates glued to the 1541A'a, not much bigger than the chips, as simple heatsinks.. they need better than that! I found some finned heatsinks at Digikey (meant for 14 pin IC's) that have more area than that flat plate.. a small, quiet fan like for PC uP cooling blowing across the 4 boards, even just stirring the air inside would go a long way to cool them. But, my buddy is still thinking about that one..
When I get back to fixing things up, I'll attack the display. Should be easy to fix once the problem is understood.. Displays are simple.
It's a good design, done extremely cheaply.. Guess they had a genius design engineer, and a compulsive-obsessed cost reduction engineer and the latter won the fist fight...
Without any documentation, I did reverse engineer the DAC section even to the point of creating schematics in Orcad, which I'd be willing to share.. especially for that service manual!
I did upgrade the I/V resistors, and on the two boards that were cooked, put in sockets and quality bypassing. I also "socketized" the 4 DAC boards, so we could pull them out at will, and do things like compare a single stock board with the board using different I/V op amps, or better power bypassing caps. Made a believer out of him on modding.
I agree with you on the many things that could be improved a LOT in this unit.. the power supply is noisy, the clocks and digital signals are horrible... long long cables from the main board, and NO DECOUPLING at all on the "secret" board (actually a bunch of 74LS166's time shifiting the wc and data lines for the 4 DAC's) which floored me. For a "high end" unit, the build quality was surprizingly cheap.. Of course this means you can make a lot of worthy improvements.
I still would like to try: local low noise regulated power to the DAC's or even each one with it's own set, redistribute the data and clock so it gets there undistorted, reclock the data/clock lines to the DAC section, and or add a good low jitter master clock.
A note on the heat.. on this model, there were little aluminum plates glued to the 1541A'a, not much bigger than the chips, as simple heatsinks.. they need better than that! I found some finned heatsinks at Digikey (meant for 14 pin IC's) that have more area than that flat plate.. a small, quiet fan like for PC uP cooling blowing across the 4 boards, even just stirring the air inside would go a long way to cool them. But, my buddy is still thinking about that one..
When I get back to fixing things up, I'll attack the display. Should be easy to fix once the problem is understood.. Displays are simple.
It's a good design, done extremely cheaply.. Guess they had a genius design engineer, and a compulsive-obsessed cost reduction engineer and the latter won the fist fight...
I used to have a CD2 as well. Picked it up from the factory new, as many got damaged in the post.
It had a number of design flaws. I had to uprate the transistor driving the muting relay as it was a 0.3W device running at 0.5W. The LED displays failed as the drive current was set too high. I got new modules and increased the current setting resistor. The layout of the digital circuitry was appauling and the EMI was so bad I had to unplug the player to listen to the FM radio.
If yours has spasms, try pressing the bottom right button and the one above it at the same time. If I remember that's the reset.
I did have all the schematics for it plus my own notes, but I think I binned them. I'll have a look.
It sounded great for its time, but most CD players over £200 from the past five years sound better!
They're really not worth keeping running, unlike a MG-B.
It had a number of design flaws. I had to uprate the transistor driving the muting relay as it was a 0.3W device running at 0.5W. The LED displays failed as the drive current was set too high. I got new modules and increased the current setting resistor. The layout of the digital circuitry was appauling and the EMI was so bad I had to unplug the player to listen to the FM radio.
If yours has spasms, try pressing the bottom right button and the one above it at the same time. If I remember that's the reset.
I did have all the schematics for it plus my own notes, but I think I binned them. I'll have a look.
It sounded great for its time, but most CD players over £200 from the past five years sound better!
They're really not worth keeping running, unlike a MG-B.
hi all,
just got a Cambridge Audio CD2, however defected, no reading, spinning just for a couple of seconds, display out.
After removing the upper panel and giving a PCB inspection, i found some components burnt, may be replacing them the player would function again.
I took a picture of the burnt area, can someone be so kind to help me providing the value of those burnt components? what's the voltage drop of the resistor? many thanks
just got a Cambridge Audio CD2, however defected, no reading, spinning just for a couple of seconds, display out.
After removing the upper panel and giving a PCB inspection, i found some components burnt, may be replacing them the player would function again.
I took a picture of the burnt area, can someone be so kind to help me providing the value of those burnt components? what's the voltage drop of the resistor? many thanks
Attachments
If that's the "lower left" corner of the main PCB when looking facing the front, I think it is the "delay" circuit that controls the output-muting relay.
By memory I think this is a 100ohm resistor that controls the current charging one of those caps, that then through some transistor switches the relay. See post #12 above: it dissipates much more than the 1/4W it is apparently rated for.
You can (to start with) just feed the relay directly from 5V (or 9V or 12V, see what rating it has), you'll just have some initial noises.
I don't think that this is related to the other problems you have.
The display, just forget it. All machines in this family are known to behave strangely in the display.
The not-reading is probably from the CD transport. These machines are old, and laser may be ageing.
Look at the threads about Philips CDM2 and CDM4 mechanics.
The replacement of a certain electrolytic capacitor in the mech sometimes make them work.
Another strange thing is the "on-off-standby", which is based on some TTL flip-flops (in the rear right area of the PCB, about in front of the regulators). Make sure it is "on" - do like me: short circuit it and turn it on-off from a normal switch on the AC.
The strong point is the DAC card.
You did read this whole thread above, didn't you?
If you want to get rid of the player, I'll take it
Are you really in Italy?
_
By memory I think this is a 100ohm resistor that controls the current charging one of those caps, that then through some transistor switches the relay. See post #12 above: it dissipates much more than the 1/4W it is apparently rated for.
You can (to start with) just feed the relay directly from 5V (or 9V or 12V, see what rating it has), you'll just have some initial noises.
I don't think that this is related to the other problems you have.
The display, just forget it. All machines in this family are known to behave strangely in the display.
The not-reading is probably from the CD transport. These machines are old, and laser may be ageing.
Look at the threads about Philips CDM2 and CDM4 mechanics.
The replacement of a certain electrolytic capacitor in the mech sometimes make them work.
Another strange thing is the "on-off-standby", which is based on some TTL flip-flops (in the rear right area of the PCB, about in front of the regulators). Make sure it is "on" - do like me: short circuit it and turn it on-off from a normal switch on the AC.
The strong point is the DAC card.
You did read this whole thread above, didn't you?
If you want to get rid of the player, I'll take it
Are you really in Italy?
_
Two more things came to my mind (maybe to yours too already).
One: check the voltages given by the transformer and the regulators. I remember in my CD2 one secondary was half of what it should have, and one of the 78/79xx regulators was fried. Everything runs hot in this player.
Two: Since the 4xTDA1541 DAC is about the only thing worth saving of this player, you can also hook it into another Philips player. All that the DAC needs is a 4x oversampled I2S (Philips flavour). This you can easily get out of the SAA7220 of any cheap Philips machine from eBay.
I confirm my interest in the player in case you lost yours.
_
One: check the voltages given by the transformer and the regulators. I remember in my CD2 one secondary was half of what it should have, and one of the 78/79xx regulators was fried. Everything runs hot in this player.
Two: Since the 4xTDA1541 DAC is about the only thing worth saving of this player, you can also hook it into another Philips player. All that the DAC needs is a 4x oversampled I2S (Philips flavour). This you can easily get out of the SAA7220 of any cheap Philips machine from eBay.
I confirm my interest in the player in case you lost yours.
_
hi pilli,
thanks for your help. I have found a faulty capacitor in power supply, the -10v, the voltage float with an ampiltude of +/-2v.
However replacing it still didn't solve the non reading issue.
Then i tested the signal output from TDA5708 pin27, the oscilloscope showed the wave form (eye pattern) that didn't seem like the one we used to see it on a working machine.
Besides, the L292 was hot, is it normal?
Anyway, i'm not in Italy anymore, just move into Taiwan few months ago.
4x TDA1541 are definately more useful than the entire machine, haha, well a TDA1541 NOS is in progress.
thanks for your help. I have found a faulty capacitor in power supply, the -10v, the voltage float with an ampiltude of +/-2v.
However replacing it still didn't solve the non reading issue.
Then i tested the signal output from TDA5708 pin27, the oscilloscope showed the wave form (eye pattern) that didn't seem like the one we used to see it on a working machine.
Besides, the L292 was hot, is it normal?
Anyway, i'm not in Italy anymore, just move into Taiwan few months ago.
4x TDA1541 are definately more useful than the entire machine, haha, well a TDA1541 NOS is in progress.
CDM 2 Schematic
Hello
I also have a Cambridge CD2 that is fully functioning and have a schematic for the CDM2 Mechanism (not the actual CD2 schematic) driver board if you require it.
I have just replaced the Op-amp on the CDM2 mechanism driver board
with LM4562 also all electrolytics with Sanyo Os-Cons (soon to replace all polypropylene caps as well) and it was a decent sound improvement I am currently trying to get the schematic off the designer Stan Curtis but it is taking a while to do so.
Maybe if we all request it from him he will be more persuasive in his response but I do realise he is busy so it might still take a while , if you want his E-mail give me a reply and we can hopefully get this thread moving again.
Hello
I also have a Cambridge CD2 that is fully functioning and have a schematic for the CDM2 Mechanism (not the actual CD2 schematic) driver board if you require it.
I have just replaced the Op-amp on the CDM2 mechanism driver board
with LM4562 also all electrolytics with Sanyo Os-Cons (soon to replace all polypropylene caps as well) and it was a decent sound improvement I am currently trying to get the schematic off the designer Stan Curtis but it is taking a while to do so.
Maybe if we all request it from him he will be more persuasive in his response but I do realise he is busy so it might still take a while , if you want his E-mail give me a reply and we can hopefully get this thread moving again.