I have Sony CD Changer (CDP-CE405) which is a bit picky on what CD it will play. It plays fine any CD stamped in the 80's and 90's or any CD-R but with some CD stamped in the 2000's onward it starts "howling" and, especially in the first 20 minutes of the disc, it skips back and forth. All those CD's play fine in other players, including an old Sony CDP from 1988.
The Cd Changer has an auto-calibrating servo with no adjustments, the pick-up seems fine as it reads even scratched CD-R with no issue. It seems that with some disc the tracking servo starts resonating with the disc rotation and it is unable to keep the track. I have recapped the servo board removing three surface mount capacitors but the new caps had no effect at all
Any idea of what might be the issue ?
The Cd Changer has an auto-calibrating servo with no adjustments, the pick-up seems fine as it reads even scratched CD-R with no issue. It seems that with some disc the tracking servo starts resonating with the disc rotation and it is unable to keep the track. I have recapped the servo board removing three surface mount capacitors but the new caps had no effect at all
Any idea of what might be the issue ?
I presume you haven't replaced the 213 laser yet?
In all seriousness, try sticking a small lump of blacktac precisely to the rear side of the laser body I've marked.
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The laser is still its original, i'm not sure a Chinese KSS-213 would be better than this one.
Sorry for my ignorance, but what exactly is "blacktac" ? google was not helpful with that word.
thanks
black version of 'blutac' but better grade
https://wwhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/...Industrial-Strength-Black-Putty/dp/B01LCSZXUK
Black Tack ( black tac ) 19mm x 1m, high strength adhesive putty for photographers: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies
I'm watching keenly as my Sony may have a similar problem.
I take it you mean the 'howling' is heard from the player mechanism and not through the speakers ?
https://wwhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/...Industrial-Strength-Black-Putty/dp/B01LCSZXUK
Black Tack ( black tac ) 19mm x 1m, high strength adhesive putty for photographers: Amazon.co.uk: Pet Supplies
I'm watching keenly as my Sony may have a similar problem.
I take it you mean the 'howling' is heard from the player mechanism and not through the speakers ?
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Yeah a bit like blue tac but way more sticky and it never stops being sticky
Arcam used to have a howling mech (only on early tracks, and only on certain discs) their offical fix was a lump of brass screwed to the original 240 laser , this moved the resonant frequency of the body, the servo was a bit overzealous.
Different discs obviously have different reflective properties, some reflect better than others (they all look shiny though) , this affects how the laser level and servo is autoadjusted, this is why you get it only on some discs, the reason it only does it on early tracks is the spindle speed (which is at is fastest at that point , slowing progressivly as it traveerses the disc.
It's skipping purely because of the mechanical resonance generated by the overactive focus and tracking servo.
Arcam used to have a howling mech (only on early tracks, and only on certain discs) their offical fix was a lump of brass screwed to the original 240 laser , this moved the resonant frequency of the body, the servo was a bit overzealous.
Different discs obviously have different reflective properties, some reflect better than others (they all look shiny though) , this affects how the laser level and servo is autoadjusted, this is why you get it only on some discs, the reason it only does it on early tracks is the spindle speed (which is at is fastest at that point , slowing progressivly as it traveerses the disc.
It's skipping purely because of the mechanical resonance generated by the overactive focus and tracking servo.
I could not find black tack at home so I stole some Play-doh from my daughter and tried to dampen vibrations as in the attached pic.
Actually it is behaving the same, with certain discs it howls most of the time with peak between 3 to 10 minutes of playtime. Some time it plays the same discs fine, silent and easy.
I have another player with auto-calibrating servo and KSS-240 pick-up (still Sony Original) and it plays all discs fine.
Should I try to buy a new KSS-213C ? (not sure the player is worth though ...)
Actually it is behaving the same, with certain discs it howls most of the time with peak between 3 to 10 minutes of playtime. Some time it plays the same discs fine, silent and easy.
I have another player with auto-calibrating servo and KSS-240 pick-up (still Sony Original) and it plays all discs fine.
Should I try to buy a new KSS-213C ? (not sure the player is worth though ...)
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Blacktac is just more sticky and more able to grab the body more securely ... it should have shown an improvement depending how much you added.
But anyway, yes replace the laser... , if you can replace the whole mech - as these aren't dear for 213's nowadays if you look in the right places (240 is a different kettle)
KSS-213CCM Mechanism Optical Pickup Power Optic Lens Head For Disc Machine New | eBay
Just confirm it's the same chassis plate shape and platter type
As even the arcam 240 laser howl wasn't apparent on each and every copy of the product.... they added the countermeasure for every copy that came in just as a belt and braces/just in case thing because the cost of the part was vitually nothing in relation to the customer hassle of having the unit back again after just being repaired without it.
But anyway, yes replace the laser... , if you can replace the whole mech - as these aren't dear for 213's nowadays if you look in the right places (240 is a different kettle)
KSS-213CCM Mechanism Optical Pickup Power Optic Lens Head For Disc Machine New | eBay
Just confirm it's the same chassis plate shape and platter type
As even the arcam 240 laser howl wasn't apparent on each and every copy of the product.... they added the countermeasure for every copy that came in just as a belt and braces/just in case thing because the cost of the part was vitually nothing in relation to the customer hassle of having the unit back again after just being repaired without it.
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That mech is for more recent players, my Sony has the BD board (servo board) underneath the pick-up. I have already bought KSS-213C on amazon and they are pretty cheap. "luckily" the KSS-213 is a dumb pick-up and chinese replicas works quite well. KSS-240 is more complex and chinese replicas are more a hit or miss; for KSS-240 I prefer to source the part from working CDP with still the original Sony.
Last Sunday I bought a new KSS-213C from Amazon (limited offer, 9.5 EUR) and installed it in place of the original pick-up: it now reads any disc without howling or strange mechanical sounds.
I know chinese KSS-213C pick-up's have a very low quality but so far is working fine. Is it possible to find exact Sony replicas (with brass bearing in place of plastic) but beside aesthetic I'm not sure they are actually better than the cheaper ones.
I know chinese KSS-213C pick-up's have a very low quality but so far is working fine. Is it possible to find exact Sony replicas (with brass bearing in place of plastic) but beside aesthetic I'm not sure they are actually better than the cheaper ones.
The bronze bearing versions are quite hard to find now, all the chinese copies are fully plastic bearing .,.... a tiny drop of lube on the sled bar and I've never had any problem with the majority of them.
There are some out there now which all (apparently
) have the same adjusted laser current printed on the label The bronze bearing versions are quite hard to find now, all the chinese copies are fully plastic bearing .,....
There are some out there now which all (apparently
The bronze bearing version can be found only in chinese on-line store; several years ago I bough an exact KSS-240 replica but it was not working, traces of oil on the label and pick-up acting crazy. Got a full refund, but anyway opted for a plastic version from amazon. Might be a coincidence, but in my experience pickup's bought from European sellers have a lower failure rate.
When I was looking for the KSS-240, I checked several items on-sale on both ebay and amazon and the codes on the printed labels were mostly identical (I could identify two/three variants replicated several times). I assumed, as the rest, they were just verbatim copies of original Sony labels, just for the appearance.
You're assuming they use a sample photo of their stock
, they're often just library copy photo'sIf you're buying lasers regularly nowadays , find a good supplier by your first order (by the quality of the supplied part and their returns policy/ease) and stick with them
That is the funny part, the pick-up they send you is identical to the one depicted in the pictures, down to the codes on the label.
I buy a pick-up every 9~12 months and easily the older seller no longer exists. I buy from amazon,: if it is a DOA, back it goes and another one ordered.
Unfortunately I have been too optimistic; after a couple of days and trying several CD's it still have problem reading some CD's and howls between track 2 and 5.
Different pick-up, same problem. Either the problem lies elsewhere (but I have no idea where) or there is a design problem with the servo circuits which resonates.
I did some tests and the howling stops if I press hard on the pick-up body while playing; I tried gluing the PCB to the pick-up body with a vinyl based glue to break any resonance, but still no luck. I checked all caps in the power supply but they all measure fine; I have already replaced the three SMD caps in the servo board, but it did not make any difference.
I'm out of option.
As I said the arcam authorised fix was a block of metal screwed to where the single screw holds the connector pcb (on the laser), you even got a slightly longer screw to accomodate the pcb+metal , sadly I haven't got any left, it was a different laser (240) but your symptoms are clearly the same , proved by you pushing on the laser body.
It's not the laser at fault rather the servo, and that's not at fault, just a unfortunate match in a resonant frequency of the pickup
You could try finding a bit of metal instead of the black tac, gluing won't help you need to add mass
EDIT: I found a pic of the metal that was the fix on the arcam
(Ignore the gear that's circled)
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