CD Player Damaging CDs?

[jayne lee wilson]

Just to reiterate on the basis of long experience (my own and other audiophiles, and dealers I've known too):

On the evidence offered in the OP, one MUST start with the CD Player itself, NOT the discs. Try the cleaning disc aforementioned etc.

Simplest check if it is the CD? Try another player.... you already have and it indicated the original player is faulty. If that isn't enough (!), get a new copy of one of the problem discs. If that doesn't play either - there's your answer.

AFAIK, no Audiophile CD cleaner currently on the market is an abrasive (I would keep away from others that offer a "polishing" system). Nor are they costly. RA Reveel is £14.50 per pack. But as I said the discs almost certainly aren't the problem here. You'd probably be wasting time and energy following that path, even if you got one to play after a clean (that can sometimes happen even with a faulty player).

I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering what has become of Katzelmacher.....hope they are not in the kitchen scrubbing away at CDs...

[Dave2002]

I have only used some of the more abrasive brute force methods on one disc that I can remember. It was a disc by Idil Beret which I rather liked - bought from a charity shop - but one or two tracks wouldn't play. After a somewhat drastic approach - not quite as severe as a Brillo pad - I got it to play, and was able to make a playable copy - and also store a digital file.

Sometimes a click or noise seems to be embedded in a recording - so no amount of cleaning, polishing etc. will remove that. The only way then is to make a digital copy and identify the very small audible blemish, remove it, and use some method of covering over the gap - various methods exist. Then make a new CD from the edited digital file.

Jayne's advice about the CD players is the correct approach.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Thanks Bryn, I didn't know that some companies will replace the disks. Sadly, the fist CD that spring to mind is on Pearl and, as far as I know, they no longer exist.

Pearl Records appear to be around still:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/labels/1121/browse?size=10&view=large

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Pearl Records appear to be around still:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...=10&view=large

I have badly marked disc that now gets stuck at a particular point on any CD player I’ve tried it one. The good news is that it’s a hybrid SACD, and plays perfectly in my “universal” player.

[gradus]

My Sony CD player often skips on old and marked discs but my two s/h Marantz players, a 40 and a 5000, cope with everything and never skip. If you are looking for excellent quality at a low price I'd certainly recommend a s/h Marantz 5000, mine cost £23on ebay but delivers excellent quality.

[jayne lee wilson]

My Sony CD player often skips on old and marked discs but my two s/h Marantz players, a 40 and a 5000, cope with everything and never skip. If you are looking for excellent quality at a low price I'd certainly recommend a s/h Marantz 5000, mine cost £23on ebay but delivers excellent quality.

Interesting about the 5000......great player, but its actually a Philips 753 (in a much nicer chassis).

http://www.lampizator.eu/lampizator/references/Marantz%20CD5000/marantz5000.html

http://www.lampizator.eu/lampizator/references/Philips%20CD753/PhilipsCD753.html

Its all a lot of fresh air... Could do with a few more power supplies in that spartan accommodation couldn't we? Sound that counts, of course...

Marantz/Philips transports from the heavy metal Pro (good enough even for some of Krell's battleships) to the modest but very reliable CDM-12 are generally pretty tolerant...
Best thing about the 40 is its classic TD1541 multibit chipset, select version later used in the legendary Marantz CD-7.... still yearn to catch up with a '7 now, but I guess its too late. Things move on...

With the CD45, the great Ken Ishiwata began the series of Marantz special editions, where you could have your current machine upgraded for a modest cost. So you had Mk.2, Mk.2SE.....etc... Very deservedly successful they were. Arcam and Cyrus took this up too.
My own CD63 Mk2 KI Sig is a great example, I had it more extensively modified again later back at the Marantz factory, but.... no room for it on the rack just now. In its box upstairs.....so it goes...

[mikealdren]

I recently disinterred some old HiFi items from the attic to sell on Ebay, my old (1985) Philips 204 CD player amongst them. I was amazed at how heavy it is compared with the Aiwa player that replaced it. Sadly it no longer works, the laser arm moves but it won't play CDs any more. I tried cleaning the lens to no avail.

[mikealdren]

Pearl Records appear to be around still:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...=10&view=large

Maybe I should contact Presto as I can't find any contact details for Pearl on the Internet. Mind you, they'll probably just tell me that the CD is too long out of print and I do now have the contents on my computer even though the CD is no longer fully playable. Campoli's choice, a lovely CD.

Copied to the damaged CDs thread...........

[ChrisBennell]

Maybe I should contact Presto as I can't find any contact details for Pearl on the Internet. Mind you, they'll probably just tell me that the CD is too long out of print and I do now have the contents on my computer even though the CD is no longer fully playable. Campoli's choice, a lovely CD.

If you have the contents on your computer (assuming you have a CD drive) it is a fairly simple matter to make a new CD from the content files. There are several software applications that can do this - I use Nero Burning CD-Rom (on a desktop PC), but have in the past used Microsoft Media Player. Also to anyone that suspects their CD(s) are damaged, you can always try a Disk Copy on a computer, or Rip the files to Hard drive, and then make a new CD from those.

[mikealdren]

Yes, I've used EAC a few times in the past and also carefully polished out scratches with some success.

All my CDs are played from a computer 'jukebox' so I have a fair amount of experience at recovering CDs. EAC is often the answer although I don't use it for initial copying because it's a bit slow and not directly linked to my preferred tag editor, Musichi.

Bronzed CDs like my Campoli tend to be unrecoverable. I bought another copy of that one at some cost.

[Bryn]

I recently disinterred some old HiFi items from the attic to sell on Ebay, my old (1985) Philips 204 CD player amongst them. I was amazed at how heavy it is compared with the Aiwa player that replaced it. Sadly it no longer works, the laser arm moves but it won't play CDs any more. I tried cleaning the lens to no avail.

Not the same model but I had a Philips CD deck which developed a problem when trying to play CDs. It turned out that the rotating clamp which descends to hold the CD in place on the spinning hub was not holding the CDs firmly enough and they were slipping. a ring of self-adhesive paper, stuck to the underside of the clamp did the trick until I upgraded to a novel Pioneer deck which had a full 120 mm diameter turntable on which the CD was placed, printed side down. That, in turn, also eventually failed. The only dedicated CD mechanism I now have is that in an Alesis Masterlink. That get's very little use due to intermittent failures of the Masterlink's display panel and its (the Masterlink's) relative obsolescence since advances in solid-state portable recorders.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Not the same model but I had a Philips CD deck which developed a problem when trying to play CDs. It turned out that the rotating clamp which descends to hold the CD in place on the spinning hub was not holding the CDs firmly enough and they were slipping. a ring of self-adhesive paper, stuck to the underside of the clamp did the trick until I upgraded to a novel Pioneer deck which had a full 120 mm diameter turntable on which the CD was placed, printed side down. That, in turn, also eventually failed. The only dedicated CD mechanism I now have is that in an Alesis Masterlink. That get's very little use due to intermittent failures of the Masterlink's display panel and its (the Masterlink's) relative obsolescence since advances in solid-state portable recorders.

Another problem with the early Philips CD players was the effect of cold weather/ An intermittent crackling sound, rather like radio interference, made winter listening a nightmare. Then when spring cam, the problem vanished. Apparently it was due to condensation on the lens, but knowing that didn't cheer me up one bit. I lost that player in a burglary, and the new player had no such problems.

[Bryn]

Another problem with the early Philips CD players was the effect of cold weather/ An intermittent crackling sound, rather like radio interference, made winter listening a nightmare. Then when spring cam, the problem vanished. Apparently it was due to condensation on the lens, but knowing that didn't cheer me up one bit. I lost that player in a burglary, and the new player had no such problems.

Perhaps I should clarify my statement regarding dedicated CD mechanisms. I play CDs in various DVD/Blu-ray equipment items, prime of place going to an OPPO UDP-203 (the 205 was sadly beyond my budget).

[jayne lee wilson]

Another problem with the early Philips CD players was the effect of cold weather/ An intermittent crackling sound, rather like radio interference, made winter listening a nightmare. Then when spring cam, the problem vanished. Apparently it was due to condensation on the lens, but knowing that didn't cheer me up one bit. I lost that player in a burglary, and the new player had no such problems.

Some of the Marantz 63/67 1990s series emit the most alarming banshee wail as the drawer opens and closes in winter. Not the best prelude for a Mozart String Quartet.
You have to apply lithium grease to the runners, but even then it needs repeat treatments, and warmer conditions for serene smoothness to return, as it takes the grease a while to soften and spread..

[jayne lee wilson]

Perhaps I should clarify my statement regarding dedicated CD mechanisms. I play CDs in various DVD/Blu-ray equipment items, prime of place going to an OPPO UDP-203 (the 205 was sadly beyond my budget).

Some interesting reading for 203 owners here.....

https://www.russandrews.com/oppo-udp-203-eu-upgrade/

Very impressive under the lid, I must say....I take it the transport is genuinely proprietary?