Audio Aero Prestige new trans cannot read cd/sac


My Prestige, equipped with the new Sony transport, has problem in reading CD/SACD. The player simply stops reading, lies quietly, plays no music for a few seconds before it and music resume.

Do any Prestige owner have the same experience as I do?

Thanks.
cattie
I assume this player has the dsd readout? Does this happen with all sacd's? Had mine for a month;everything is fine. There are a couple of threads re. this player. Some of these owners with more savy might post or you might contact them.
Thanks.

My player has dsd text and for sure it is the Sony transport.

Initially I suspect it was the frameware issue and all prestige owner should share the same experience as I do. Now it seems I am the only person who experienced such and it is likely to be a particular machine problem.

Any more insights?
This just happened to me tonight--- The player wouldn't play ANY DISC,---I turned it off right by the iec.at the back.--- That was all it took.---Do they all go to FULL VOLUME as they reboot??? This happened tonight and when I started it up for the first time.
Sorry to hear what happened on your Prestige, avguygeorge.

If my Prestige plays music, be it CD or SACD, continuously for a few hours (6-8 hours), the "stop-resume" problem will surface some point in time. When it reboots, it goes to "Line In 1" and volume down to -40db.

Today I report my case and the dealer plans to collect the unit back to the workshop. Tough luck.
I love my player so much it would be a hardship if mine had to be "collected" and sent back. I also discovered: The remote works 10xs better if I bounce the beam. Say 180 from the face plate. For weeks I'm getting half way up;stretching trying to point the remote at the player.(on my right) Now I can just sit back,point the remote to the left, and enjoy.
I never had any sacds before. I now have 5 but my best sounding disc is an xrcd. As a long-time Carpenters' fan I have most of their stuff. I did get to hear them live in the '70s.
There's nothing like hearing stuff you 'love' at a higher resolution.
I have played their stuff 100's of times so I know what is on each track; or so I thought.
The human voice is reproduced so beautifully by the Prestige. My love of opera lands me on Prestige too.

Just now the "stop-resume" problem happens again! I have no choice but let it goes back to the workshop. Music without Prestige would be like strawberry without cream.
Globe audio is the place to get your answers. They
have great service. 1-800-330-3804 "Jodi"
In my experience the Prestige is very critical of clean discs, no marks,scratches, or other issues.The Transport Laser is extremely sensitive.Also don't forget to remove the disc when not playing.The transport will keep running and the laser will remain active (engaged ).
Hope this helps.
I said it before, and Saxman said it again: Call Globe.

Great people.

(They have to be, sometimes some of the stuff coming from France is....moody.

ps. I love my Capitole Mark II and would not consider any trades... after having it de-bugged by the great team at Globe.
I upgraded to the new transport 1 month ago. Although the new transport was a big improvement over the old philips one, i also faced the same problem as Cattie faced. It stopped playing during listening one of my favorite cd (it is not sacd), even old transport did not have any difficulty of reading this disc (Art of Cecilia Bartoli). Then i turned off the player thanon, repeated the same track, it read w/o difficulty. Second issue was a electronic buzz or click in some tracks of some specific sacds. In Terry Sutton's sacd, in some tracks it was obvious. Then i took back the player to my dealer, replaced it with another new transport. After this change, i never faced a problem with my existing cd and sacd discs, however 1-2 sacds create the same click problem. So it can not be a particular issue related to the transport. We also tested these tracks with Esoteric combo, we did not hear these clicks.
Anyway, with the exception of only 2 sacds in my collection, it reads all of my cds and sacds perfect. The sound is excellent. To me, it is the best one box player. The tonal balance, musical integrity is so good that it can challange many more expensive reference dac+transport combos. We tested it against 4 times the cost Esoteric D-03 P-03 and seperate clock combo at my dealer. It took more than 1 hour and many repeats of same tracks to get the decision of which is better. Yes, i should admit that Esoteric combo had an edge in dynamic range, attacks, details, in terms of soundstage Esoteric had the images more defined, however Prestige had an edge in terms of depth. Do i change my Prestige for Esoteric combo? 4 times the cost? No way!
By the way, is there anyone who uses its Prestige with a seperate preamp can simply comment on sonic differences of using the unit with and without seperate preamp. I tried ARC Ref-2mkii but could not get anything special. For a very short period of time i borrowed ARC Ref-3 from one of my friends, the dynamic range and extreme frequencies were more defined but since i did not get enough time to have better judgement i cant comment overall. Any feedback welcome.
N'95 You said it well. Audio Aero mkes great products, but being...French...not without...stuff(problems).

Gotta love it.

Don't get me wrong. I have the AA Capitole, Mark II and I don't care to look further. It is fantastic, and everything I could have hoped for...once I sent it back to them to correct...problems.

Oh, they fixed everything. They paid for parts, I paid labor.

I am very happy.

Really!
"I assume this player has the dsd readout"

Hi, may I know what's this dsd readout. How to see it?

I have the AA prestige few months back. I still not sure how to verify if I have the new transport. Of course my dealer told me it is.

Thanks for sharing.
I felt sorry for Number95. The stop-resume problem happens on me all the time. If yours is one-off, then it is not the same issue that I refer to.

The reliability of French products, be it SACD player or a car, might not be up to the par as we wish. My unit is produced on 2007 Jan, so New Year holiday symptoms applied.

As far as preamp is concerned, my Prestige is running with Boulder 1012; Boulder 1012 adds to the imaging, soundstage, and dynamics, especially micro-dynamics.

Wstam, load a SACD onto the tray, if the display shows “Title xxx, Artist xxx” then your player is equipped with the new transport.

My player is now on her way to France. I hope she sleeps well and eats well. Can't wait for her return.
my prestige sacd 2 had problems reading sacd discs.
today it stopped reading sacds totally. its having sony transport(i opened it and saw)
is there any site where i can buy a new lens or mechanism.
anybody knows what sacd2 means

thanx
Try contacting Greg Collins at Sedonix AA Customer Service at 928-284-0884 or at sedonix@commspeed.net.


I had similar problems

changed lens = sony KHM 310 AAA = $6
brought it through net, replaced by local mechanic.

PROBLEM COMPELTELY SOLVED

am so happy
Could you let me know more about your problem with the AA Prestige. I seem to have the same problem. Did your mechanic simply change the laser or the whole motor/sled assembly. I am about to dismantle my player to see if I can identify the laser/assembly part number. It has been fitted with the Sony transport.
I get the impression that the problem may be slightly worse with burnt copies and also seems to be more likely to happen on the higher track numbers. I would really appreciate any comments you have. I am in Australia.

Best regards, David.
David,
Agree with your problamatic results 100% . Mine does the same word for word.I sorta live with it as it is a spontaneous event. Audio Aero cannot source any repair parts as those particular parts originated in China.I see that they offer a trade-in upgrade with added expense.So I'd be interested to find out if you obtain the same success as Masilu.
My previous players such as Capitole MK1 & MK11 did not have any issues.
Peterd
Peterd
Thanks for you comments. I had the lid off today and see that the Sony transport looks like the flimsy type you would see in any old player. AA have mounted it on some rubber standoffs but other than that it looks pretty average. It's surprising that the Prestige sounds so very, very good but I suppose the secrets in the Anagram module. I put a CD laser cleaning disk in the player but it did nothing. Whilst it was playing up I gently poked around with a plastic stick on PCB's and connectors but no difference. I cleaned the laser with some alcohol/water solution and a barely damp cotton bud and the sonics seemed a little better. But I had to go out before I could see if it was stil acting up. One thing I couldn't see was any type label on the transport/laser. I might have to unscrew a few bits. I have read just about every word on the net about the AA and even studied the theory and practise of the mechanism. The laser assembly mentioned by Masilu seems to be readily available ex China and elsewhere (even here in Australia). Whilst carefully cleaning the laser I was surprised by how flexibly it is mounted and I can see it moving around as it focusses etc. No I didn't stare into the beam. Anyway, I'll post any success I have.
David.
David,

I got the exact same problem with my Prestige. I got mine serviced at my dealer, he cleaned up the drive, and added some lube. This helped for abt 4-5months, however now the problem are starting again. I'm also considering changing the laser, and would really appreciate any experience you might have!

Thanks,

Tomas(Sweden)
I purchased a new laser assembly, KHM 310AAA W/M and installed it. Nothing worked. After some poking around there was some activity (can't remember exactly) but no music. I put the old one back in and still nothing worked. After turning it on and off a few times and pushing on the sled it started working again (with all it's previous faults). By this time I thought it was time to leave it alone. Now I am stuck with the new laser assembly ( probably nothing wrong with it) as I traded the player in on the La Fontaine. Believe me, if you can move up to the La Fontaine you won't be disappointed. Quite apart from the beautiful music, just a simple thing like it ALWAYS doing what the remote tells it to, no matter how you muck it about, is a great asset.
Regards, David.
Hi Cattie: Sorry for bumping an old thread, but my Prestige SE has the exact same problems as yours had. I bought it used and was told the drive had been replaced in 2010(with the new Sony drive).
As far as I can read, you sent the Prestige back to Audioaero for repair. Can you tell or do you know what they did? Replaced the whole drive or laser or something else? Do the Prestige still work flawlessly?

Thanks in advance
Daviddsailor,

Did you unsolder the ESD protection solder blob on the PC board of the Laser Assy? They refuse to work until that dead short across the laser diode is removed with a soldering iron.

Steve George
Yes, the first thing I did was to remove the solder blob. Anyway, the Prestige is long gone now and the La Fontaine rules the roost. It is a brilliant player.
This is my history with the brand, and this is one advice for someone that thinks in buy one AA equipment, this is the kind behavior with customers who spend a small fortune and get a silence when they needs help.
This is the type of manufactures that do not treat their customers ethically, in the last 8 years I bought one AA amplifier prestige and one audio aero capitole MK2 , then made the upgrade for one AA prestige, in the past I tried to communicate with the factory and never received an answer, now that we do not have representative in Brazil, I tried to communicate with the factory in Lyon about a problem with AA prestige, and again they did not answered me, honestly do not even want to go near another audio aero eletronic, this brand is champion in bad service for the customers. Maybe I am not the only with thi kind of problem.
Georgemg,
Well sorry about the service at AA.Yes they are the worst.
But they will answer you eventually.
As Davidsailor said ,it sure hurts to upgrade to the LaFontaine,but it is so nice it lessens the pain.
Cheers,
Peter
Just a little update on how this turned out for me. I decided to try the same fix as Masilu. I bought the laser assembly online, and changed it myself. I quite easy operation, I'm no mechanic. To my suprise the Prestige now plays both SACD an cd's perfectly. Before the lens change it wouldn't spin at all.

I tried first a lens named Sony KHM 310 AAA which looked quite similar, however this did not work. I could also see that the circuits on the electronic board was different from the original one. The specificaton was also missing the W/M letters.

The lens that worked was this:

Sony KHM-310AAA W/M

http://www.ebay.de/itm/CD-Lasereinheit-KHM310AAA-Mechanik-KHM-310AAA-/310310338929?pt=DE_Elektronik_Computer_Audio_Hi_Fi_CD_Player&hash=item483ff00171

PS: Remember to unsolder the ESD protection blob on the laser assembly.