Aaaargh silence from my Arcam CD player

[skenwrick]

I purchased an Arcam Alpha 5 CD with a tricord clock 3 upgrade from ebay a couple of months ago and have been listening happily since then. However yesterday I put on a CD and got nothing but silence (a slight hissing in fact). I checked everything out and discovered it was the CD player at fault.

Everything looks OK on the display - it shows the track playing and the time and I can hear the CD drive spinning but no sound comes out...

Does anyone have any suggestions about how I might diagnose the problem and possibly repair it. I am not an electronics expert but was able to recently repair an Arcam Amp with a blown output stage with the help from the guys on this forum...


Thanks in advance for any suggestions...

Sean Kenwrick

[Fin]

Hi Sean

The first thing I would check it that you have power going to the audio board and that the voltages are correct. The supply to the audio board should be +/-25V. You can also check that the mute circuit is working properly.

Do you have the service manual? As you know, you can get it from Arcam - otherwise, I can send you a copy.

Fin

[skenwrick]

Hi Fin,

Thanks for the response (how you getting on with your Arcam Delta by the way?).. Do you have a copy of the service manual in digital form? IF so could you please send it to me at s.kenwrick@btinternet.com

I seem to be plagued with bad luck with this new setup - first blowing the output stage of my arcam delta 290, now this! Luckily I have a spare Marantz CD player which is nearly as good as the Arcam Alpha5.

Anyway I will open up the box later today and try and get an idea about what is what. I have never looked inside a CD player before so perhaps you could talk me through what I should be measuring in more detail.....

Thanks in advance
Sean

[Fin]

Hi Sean

I have just found four IRFP240's from the same manufacturer and will pick them up in the next few days. While I've got the PCB out, I will replace all the electrolytic caps - so it won't be up and running for a little while yet.

Back to your Alpha 5 - I'll send you the manual tomorrow some time - from my broadband office connection.

First things first:- Don't rush into opening it up and poking around. CD players are very sensitive to ESD (Static Discharge). Wait until you get the manual and I will see if I have any photos of the inside - so you can familiarise youself with what you will be looking at. In the mean time - get hold of an anti static wrist strap and think of ways to minimise the static in you working environment.

Hopefully someone with an Alpha 5 will join us. I've got a Delta 70.2 which has some similarities.

Which Marantz do you have?

Fin

[skenwrick]

Hi

Thanks for the service manual, I also found a photo of the audio board elsewhere on this forum (which I have attached). So I think I am ready to open up the unit and attempt to diagnose the problem. I am a novice at this so you will have to walk me through things step by step if that's OK - I already have an anti static wrist band since I am a computer engineer...


I did as you suggested and searched the forum but most of the posts were about upgrading Arcam Alpha 5+ CDs but there doesn;t seem to be anyone else with a similar problem (however I am now thinking about maybe doing some upgrades if I can get it working again... :-) )

Cheers
Sean

[skenwrick]

P.S


Do you know if this CD player has a built in volume/gain control of its own? The remote has volume controls but these only seem to work the volume on the Arcam Amp. Why would they supply volume control on a CD player remote if the CD has no valume/gain control of its own??

[skenwrick]

P.P.S

The service manual you sent is missing page 4 which describes the mute circuit.. Do you have this page??

[skenwrick]

P.P.P.S


Its actually an Arcam Alpha 5+ CD player, not an Arcam alpha 5 as originally stated

[Fin]

Originally posted by skenwrick
Hi

I am a novice at this so you will have to walk me through things step by step if that's OK - I already have an anti static wrist band since I am a computer engineer...

I am no expert either - that's why I was hoping someone with real repair experience would join us. Anyway - we might be able to eliminate a few things if we work carefully.

Have you tried another source connected to the same input on your amp? We should probably work backwards from here. Then check that your interconnects are ok. If all is well - then you know that the problem is definitely inside the CD player.

The audioboard is obviously getting some power (+5V) through the 18 way connector - otherwise the master clock wouldn't work and the disk would not spin correctly. It's probably a good idea to check to output from each of the 4 voltage regulators with your volt meter. There should be four 3 pin voltage regulators on the board for +/-15V supply and +/-5V supply. If these are correct, you can move forward - otherwise move backwards and check the connector supplying this power to the board.

Originally posted by skenwrick

I did as you suggested and searched the forum but most of the posts were about upgrading Arcam Alpha 5+ CDs but there doesn;t seem to be anyone else with a similar problem (however I am now thinking about maybe doing some upgrades if I can get it working again... :-) )

The bug has bitten!

Originally posted by skenwrick
Do you know if this CD player has a built in volume/gain control of its own? The remote has volume controls but these only seem to work the volume on the Arcam Amp. Why would they supply volume control on a CD player remote if the CD has no valume/gain control of its own??

From looking at the photo of the audio board - there is only one set of analogue outputs. This indicates that there is no variable output. A fixed level output is better anyway.

Originally posted by skenwrick
The service manual you sent is missing page 4 which describes the mute circuit.. Do you have this page??

Sorry - that's all I've got.

Thy that for now.

Fin

[pinkmouse]

Email customer support at Arcam, they'll send you a full service manual. The volume controls on the remote are for a separate amp, not the CD player, it was a generic system remote.