I have a reasonably good single disc Marantz cd player. CD5003 for those who care about such things.
It is about 3 years old tops.
It has developed a fault. Occasionally the sound will pause for about a second and then it resumes. It soundsuke the “playing” has continued during the silence only the broadcast ceases and then resumes.
There is no pattern to the intervals though rarely are they at close intervals. It can be loud or soft volumes, after prolonged playing or quite soon after firing it up. It can happen on new pristine discs or burns.
I have played. A disc cleaning disc and checked all cabling. It does not happen when other inputs are used so it must be the CD player.
Hopefully I will wake to this solved and a repair shop visit will be avoided.
Sounds lame but: have you tried unplugging it, holding the on button in for 10 secs then plugging in and trying a disc again?
Also p21 of the manual says you can change the playback speed. Try the pitch reset maybe??
I’m going on this
http://us.marantz.com/us/Products/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?Catid=HiFiComponents&SubCatId=0&ProductId=CD5003
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it sounds like the laser and/or sledge assembly is on the way out. Repair (replacement of the laser assembly) is the only solution (if this is the problem).
“Sledge assembly” – I was hoping for a bit if tech porn on this thread, and here it is!
The sledge assembly moves on a worm gear and contains a silicon laser with servo-controlled piezoelectric motors to focus the laser beam and track the pits and lands in the groove on the CD.
The reflected laser beam is detected by an infrared photodiode and the analogue signal passes through a Schmitt Trigger to produce the serial digital data stream.
Are you there yet, Saucey, or do I need to keep going?
*squeak-squeak-squeak*
The serial data drives a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) and the bit clock is recovered from the PLL. Decoded data is passed along an I2S bus and any oversampling is done in DSP (Digital Signal Processing) before being passed to the DAC (Digital to Analogue Convertor), most of which operate in Delta-Sigma configuration.
Any residual aliasing artefacts and the sampling clock are removed by a low-pass analogue filter. Op-amps then buffer the signal to a level suitable for driving the impedance of the interconnecting cables.
I’m spent. Can you wait a while for me to recover before the next episode?
I just lit the first cigarette I ever smoked in my life.
I like to think I’ve had a varied and adventurous sex life, but this, fentonsteve … this?
I’m like tantric nerdery.
Just when you think I can’t possibly be any more boring, I really step it up a gear until your pulse almost stops.
Consider what poor Mrs F has had to put up with, after 19 years of marriage.
Possibly my favourite two posts of the year. I don’t understand a word bu they sound GREAT
Piezoelectric Motors – one of the finest deep techno albums of the mid-90s.
Assuming you have a multi input amp, try changing the CD player to another amp input to eliminate the amp input as the culprit.
Also try using a different cable to eliminate it being an intermittent cable fault.
He says other inputs are ok so it sounds like the player
Agreed but changing to a known good input used by, say, a tape deck would eliminate that possibility.
Be aware your standard cleaning disc (with the two tiny brushes) are not much help.
At best they move dust and grit about the surface of the lens without removing it….at worst they can actually scratch and hence ruin the lens.
A better solution is solvent and Q tips….IF that’s the problem of course.
If all avenues are explored and it is a dirty lens….open the drawer, switch off and unplug the unit.
With no power you should be ok to open the case and examine the lens.
A bit of solvent on a Q tip swizzled GENTLY on the surface should be all you need.
Blow it dry and reassemble.
If this resolves your issue take note…most dirt and grit enters through the drawer.
It’s good practice to keep a soft brush on hand and periodicly give the drawer surface a clean.
I’m afraid I don’t have any help for you, but I have one of these players too. I really like it, but it is very sensitive with slightly damaged CDs. There have been a few discs with marks/surface scratches that won’t play properly on it, but play on other machines we have.
Thanks folks. Will try all this but suspect / fear Steve is right. Dont use this unit an awful lot so not very impressed.
Yep, almost certainly the transport mechanism. I had an Arcam that started doing exactly the same thing. I did some research and the replacement bits weren’t actually too expensive, but I used it as an excuse for an upgrade. The good news was I sold the Arcam on Ebay for nearly £200 despite the fault..!
How does a “transport mechanism” cause the sound to cease briefly.? The pause seems too momentary and there is no slowing.
If I had had the unit for some time I would jump at the chance to upgrade but it is not that long ago that this was purchased as an upgrade.
Saw a mate and the Cd player he has he has had for around 25 years and still works. Remarkable.
If the laser can’t read the data off the disc, for whatever reason, the DAC will mute.
I had a £850 Exposure CD player (based on Philips internals) which developed, after 8 years, this exact fault. I spent £120 having it repaired, it did it again after 6 months, sold the player for spares or repair for £350.
Some (Rega and others I can’t think of righ now) audio CD players use PC DVD drives, read the data faster than normal and fill a memory buffer chip. If the CD has a scratch or skip, it will retry the read – just like having Exact Audio Copy in recovery mode.
So how was it repaired Steve and why did the repair fail ?
It was repaired by the manufacturer (replacement of the laser assembly) in Brighton or thereabouts. No idea why it failed again but I decided it was 9 years old so better to put the £120 towards an upgrade. When it started to fail, it would mute during the last track on long albums. CDs play from the inside out, so the longer they are the further away from centre the track is, the more the disc wobbles, and the harder the tracking servos have to work.
What amazed me was the eBay sale, like Nigel I put it on as Spares & Repair for a tenner. It sold to someone in Ukraine, which is an awfully long way from Sussex.
Gee what did you charge for postage?
It was something like 30 quid.
If the worst comes to the worst, and you have to replace, I can heartily recommend the Marantz CD6006 UK Edition. I’ve always had Marantz CD players and this one sounds absolutely great. It’s a tweaked version of the CD6006 for the UK market, so I don’t know how easy it would be to get hold of in your neck of the woods. Worth a try though.