CD player plays some CDs, not others.


I need a little advice here. My Denon player (8 years old) will play most CDs just fine, but now and then certain CDs, which played just fine before, will no longer play. The display reads Track 01, and that is all. I can skip to track 02 but it still will not play. If I put in another CD, it will play. Then if I go back to the other CD, it will not read the CD. These are CDs that will play in my Sony Walkman, but for some reason my Denon is not able to read them anymore. They are in good shape, clean, and had played in the past. Is the laser shot?? Need a new player?? ALong those lines, what quality can I get in the $500-$600 range, single play or changer. I like Denon, but will try any other recommended to me. Thanks in advance. Al on Cape Cod
codger
Been servicing for 22 yrs. , depends on model but most likely dirty lens as stated , use a moistened q-tip with pure water 1st. , then a moistened q-tip with isopropyl alcohol , 2nd. most common is the spindle motor , try LIGHT machine oil in a small hypo to the shaft (under the hub that cd rides , look for getting under a very small plastic washer that is sometimes present ). If you've adjusted those pots. prev. mentioned ....good luck , they set your vert. and horiz. bias coils in the laser block to focus and track the disc as well as the free run freq. reference to control the disc speed from 500-200 rpm from out to in on disc and must be set very accurately to spec on a freq. counter , usually after bridging certain pins on plug to set service mode . Do not remove the spindle hub as the distance to objective lens of laser is critical to focus , just like playing with the pots. Regards , Richard .
Does your denon use pioneer's stable platter mech? I just recently had the same prob. with my Audio Alchemy DDS-Pro and what I did was of course clean the laser mech. and then I played a CD with the top off and noticed that the laser pickup was ever so slightly slanted but I couldn't adjust it anymore with its screws so I got a semi-soft piece of rubber and cut it to size so that the top plate was level. After it was all said and done mine now sounds better than I ever remember it sounding. Good luck!
Get a Jolida CD player if you must stick to CDs only. Otherwise a Pioneer DVD 414 will play CDs better than most megabuck CD Players. It will also play the current crop of DVD audio discs which can sound much better than CD.
Same problem as yours,my player is a Denon DCD-1420,all i did was to tune a small little potentiometer that is just below the laser mechanism,i was at my wits end before this even thought of throwing away my player,it works fine now just tried about 20 cds all work fine,previously if i could get 5 out of 20 to play it would be a miracle.Also don't forget to clean the laser with a cotton bud and a bit of alcohol.Good luck.
This applies to all CD's and DVD Media. There is a kick ass Product called Quick Shield on the manrket from cdplayright.com. The product has been tested and endorsed by Warner Advanced media Operations Toshiba and HP disc labs. Thos Quick Shield places a protective coating that is 100% laser neutral and keeps the disc scratch free. It costs $28.99 in a package called Trio. Darn good. The Repair kit in this package is the most effective in the market bar none, they own the patent for repairing optical media. Be careful with all Laser lens cleaners that have pig hair, they dry out and can break off, when brittle they cause more problems than they help. good luck