Cambridge Azur 650C compact disk player - no audio

I popped into my favorite record shop, Desirable Vinyl in Evesham, to have a browse. 

Jason the owner said "Just the man... I've a customer who's CD player has broken, can you take a look?"

Yeah, why not...

It's a Cambridge Audio Azur 650C, and there's no audio.

A beautifully made thing... it becomes rapidly apparent that the muting relay has stuck...

A new one is procured and fitted, and restores the audio... :)

They tray's a bit reluctant to open, however.. A simple job, the belt has had it. It's tucked under the tray... 

In common with most modern transports, the tray is released but a catch, in this case either side of the tray. Just open the tray, switch the machine off, and carefully release both catches and slide the tray out... 

Then you can just slide the belt out from the two pulleys , and replace it.












Another saved from landfill.

Linn Karik / Brilliant Power supply repair.

Colin called by en route to the traditional Wednesday night curry....

"Got a Linn CD player here that's not working. Can you have a look?"

Yeah ... why not.

It's a Linn Karik.

I give it some power and load a CD. It fails to read the table of contents.

It then goes dead...

A couple of power cycles, and I manage to get my disc back out...

Right, Removal of four screws underneath, and slide the cover off, praying I don't see the dreaded "Brilliant" power supply ....











Oh gawd...













These supplies were sold as an "upgrade" (because Linn ownership is all about upgrades, right?) It's a switched mode in a toroidial shaped metal box, designed to fit where the once perfectly adequate, perfectly reliable mains transformer lived...

First things first, remove the nut securing the supply to the chassis from below, and lift out the supply. Undo the mains input from the input PCB, and the output to the main chassis.

Now remove the three shiny outer screws from the enclosure. You'll notice the foam washer has been cut away here, to expose three nylon screws. This means that (unsurprisingly) someone's been here before!

Right, now a note of warning! This thing always seems to remain charged up. Be very careful not to touch the PCB's, until you've checked there's not a cap charged up to a few hundred volts waiting to bite!



You can now extract the PCB's from the enclosure. You'll need to work the strain relief grommets down their slots a little to get them free...

Instantly I noticed that familiar smell of capacitors that have been too warm :(






We now need to remove the three nylon screws from the base plate. If your foam washer is still intact you'll need to remove a bit to get to the screw heads.










You can now separate the boards. Those two large electrolytics on the right are the ones that tend to hold their charge! Discharge them before they bite!

Now change out all of the small electrolytic capacitors. All of them.

You'll need:
1 x 33uF 35v
1 x 100uF 35v
1 x 220uF 25v
1x 47uF 16v

Get quality 105 degree rated caps from a reputable supplier.

In about 25% of these units, you will find you can now reassemble and it'll work :)

This one was a little stubborn. After a bit of head-scratching, it was found that the UC3825DW controller IC has failed. A replacement restored operation... nearly...

The servo was struggling to lock, discs were prone to skipping. A sure sign of a tired optic assembly. Cleaning the lens made a marginal, but inadequate improvement. A new one (from a reputable supplier) was duly fitted, and had the player working well :)

Numark iCDMIX2 repair

Lee put out an SOS on Facebook. The CD player he uses to teach disadvantaged individuals to DJ on had packed up. It just so happened I had a spare in the loft he could have ...

When he came to collect it, he dropped the broken one off...

"Care to have a look?"

Yeah, why not....

It's a Numark iCDMIX2 , and the left hand CD isn't reading discs... 

On testing it, I noticed the left CD wasn't engaging the disc, and you can hear the tray belt slipping. Lee seemed to think someone had been a bit heavy handed with it, and it's mis-aligned. I recon it's the tray belt slipping....

Three screws at the top of the front panel, two on the left, two on the right, and four countersunk ones underneath are removed to gain access to the CD transports...









and I can't *quite* get enough access.... off with the top.... four screws each side, and four across the back...












Gently lift the lid, careful not to unplug anything... and prop it up with a screwdriver!













With the tray in the eject position, pull the small lever to the left of the tray outwards, this will free up this side of the tray.... There's a similar lever on the other side, and you will now be able to extract the tray, to gain access to the belt. Lee was right, the belt was blameless in this case, and the unit just needed re-aligning. The large cam which engages the tray is moved round by hand unit the "gap" in the teeth is to the right hand side of the mechanism. Now the tray is inserted, and the unit tested...

Bingo. Another saved from landfill....

Technics SL-P1200B Compact Disc Player

This belongs to lovely chap in the beautiful country of Wales.

It's a commercial CD player, favored (briefly) by the beeb and independent local radio stations in the late 80's , early 90's. This one dates from 1988.

The -P version was specifically for broadcast use, and instead of the large slider on the right being for pitch control, it's a fader. The pitch control is the small knob on the top right.

Rumour has it the poor things gained a reputation for being a finicky, requiring the CD to be spotless, and was possibly responsible for more "dead-air" back then than anything else. Sad really, because the spec is fantastic, Burr-brown PCM54HP DAC's and Technic's successful "Class AA" bits and bobs.

All this needed was a bit of a service. The laser is fantastic and should give plenty of good service back in the motherland!