Hi
New to this forum. I started a thread a couple of years ago on another forum about a skipping CD player. One of the members began helpfully by suggesting he could supervise by email, but then disappeared. Hopefully it was nothing I said 🙂
I have an Arcam Alpha Plus CD player of early 1990's vintage. It has a problem where it skips on the last or last two tracks on any CD. There may be several reasons for this - the laser starting to fail, or debris/dirt in the laser arm track, being two likely candidates. Some time ago I bought from ebay a replacement transport, in case I needed to replace the entire transport.
Two questions -
1. Has anyone had a similar experience and knows how to clean the laser arm track?
2. Has anyone had experience of changing a transport in an Arcam Alpha or Alpha Plus player.
I would be grateful for any advice/help in fixing this issue.
Many thanks
Oats
New to this forum. I started a thread a couple of years ago on another forum about a skipping CD player. One of the members began helpfully by suggesting he could supervise by email, but then disappeared. Hopefully it was nothing I said 🙂
I have an Arcam Alpha Plus CD player of early 1990's vintage. It has a problem where it skips on the last or last two tracks on any CD. There may be several reasons for this - the laser starting to fail, or debris/dirt in the laser arm track, being two likely candidates. Some time ago I bought from ebay a replacement transport, in case I needed to replace the entire transport.
Two questions -
1. Has anyone had a similar experience and knows how to clean the laser arm track?
2. Has anyone had experience of changing a transport in an Arcam Alpha or Alpha Plus player.
I would be grateful for any advice/help in fixing this issue.
Many thanks
Oats
What is the pickup/mechanism in this player ? Skipping at the end of a disc could well be the mech that needs old grease cleaning up. The Philips CDM12.4 type pickup was particularly prone.
That's the swing arm pickup. If the problem really is only at the last part of the disc then possibilities include the arm "sticking". Its many years since I worked on these, and I wouldn't like to give misleading info on dismantling (without having one in front of me) to lubricate the ball bearing type bearings which these use. Does the arm feel free ? Also disc runout or wobble should be checked. Make sure the disc sits on the platter and that the disc runs true when viewed edge on. Various electrolytic caps were troublesome on Philips based players, typically ones mounted on the PCB under the pickup but I'm not so sure that's your problem here as yours sounds related to a mechanical problem (sticking)
Hi. The arm feels free, it doesn't appear to feel sticky or rough at either end of its swing. Strange thing is I also have another Alpha + player that has the same problem but on the first CD tracks. Again the arm feels free on this one too. I am not sure whether debris or dust in the swing arm track can be detected by simply manually swinging the arm can it? I guess if the mechanism is very sensitive, you may not be able to detect debris by touch.
I also have a standard Arcam Alpha with a faulty Digital Out. L and R out work as normal but the Dig Out sounds very rough. I seem to be accumulating sick Arcams here. I am keen to learn how to fix them as I think they are great players.
Best
Oats
P.S. Do you know anyone (forum member) that knows about DIY on these players in the Cambridgeshire area?
I also have a standard Arcam Alpha with a faulty Digital Out. L and R out work as normal but the Dig Out sounds very rough. I seem to be accumulating sick Arcams here. I am keen to learn how to fix them as I think they are great players.
Best
Oats
P.S. Do you know anyone (forum member) that knows about DIY on these players in the Cambridgeshire area?
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