Krell CD Player.....Please Help


I have had my Krell CD-DSP for many years and it's been a great cd player but recently, the display shows "disc error" spins for a few seconds and stops. I called Krell and spoke with a technician named Ray and he swears it's the laser assembly. I thought he meant just the laser ( philipps cdm1 mk.2) so I went and bought one and swapped it out with the existing laser but same "disc error" message appears in display window. Now, after few days went by, it won't even spin the disc. I opened her up and swapped out the laser with the original one and same thing...it won't even spin the disc.
I am in desperate need of help here. Krell tells me they don't have any parts for this unit anymore so sending the unit in to them is not an option.
Can anyone with some knowledge of this unit or it's type of transport or cd assembly help please!!!
128x12867chevellesslover
Yes, I would like to know the conclusion my self, hi jafant, how have you been?
John-

give us an update on your Krell cd player. Did you get it fixed? If so, how does it sound? If not, when are you going to send it in for repair? Keep me posted & Happy Listening!
Hi 67chevellesslover-John, your welcome,, Steve Lacrone Will take care of you, he actually works on many brands of electronics's, he is the same price for labor as krell them self's are, however, Steve is real good, I'm glad you took my advice, cheers to you John, Happy listening.
Thanks to all of you once again. Especially Keith ( Audiolabyrinth ), I took your advice and called Steve, the former Krell Service Manager and decided to send the unit to him for service. He is also going to change out all the capacitors and basically turn the unit back into new unless he comes across a problem with finding a certain part for it but it's gamble I am willing to take.

His website by the way is now called Krellservice.com. Obviously a very knowledgeable guy with all audio equipment and I figured I couldn't find a better person to work on my Krell.

He is not cheap...$105 per hour and let me know up front it will be apx. 4 hours of labor plus parts but my only other option was to sell the unit for parts to someone on eBay and I really rather keep it. At least as a back up unit.

Again, thank you all for your quick response.

John
Hey, I did post a response above, it is my believe that it's a good bet, nothing wrong with looking into what I posted, thanks Jafant, cheers to you.
The Philips cdm1 mk.2 assembly that you installed is both the laser and the spindle motor ... now you know that isn’t the problem as they are new and should be working properly

Attached to that Laser assembly is a power board ... when the capacitor on that board goes bad the laser/motor assembly doesn't get power

Replace the axial capacitor 16v 33uf cap under the PCB board attached to the laser mechanism
.
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On some CD laser pick-ups theres a solder blob that protects the laser
against static discharge, once its installed you need to carefully remove it
with a soldering iron and some desoldering braid - quite easy.

Just did a search and it appears that this feature is mostly on Sony Pickups
so it may not be relevant to your Phillips piece. I checked the service manual
for the drive and could not find any mention of it.

Best of Luck

Peter
I thank you all for taking your time to answer back. As for Peter's response
in removing "the solder blob", I have no idea what you're speaking of. Would you please explain?

John
67chevelle-

I am hoping that Keith (audiolabyrinth) will chime in here. He knows many people at Krell and can assist you w/ your query. Keep us posted on any repairs & Happy Listening!
You can contact Steve Lacrone, tell him Keith, audiogon user name Audiolabyrinth sent you, the name of his company is, The Service Department home, located in coneticuit, not far from Krell, Steve was the service manager at Krell for many years before he left in 2009 when Dan D Agostino did, you can do a quick Bing or Google search for, The Service Department home, contact Steve and he may be able to fix you up, Post back or e-mail me and let me know how this turned out, best of luck, Happy Listening.
I had a Krell CD-DSP many years ago that I bought new. As you know, it looks amazing and you hope it will never fail, and then it does. I stored mine in the garage for about a year (in California), and when I went to use it-well, you know the story. Although it didn't play, it still read the CD so I used it with a Krell DAC. Krell wouldn't touch it and claimed, even then, that no one there had any experience with the CD-DSP. So I put an ad on the internet and sold it after telling the prospective buyer all of its problems. I saw the new owner this weekend and he still uses it as a transport. I recommend that you sell it as the looks alone will help it find a new home. I did like the sound. I would follow Peter's advice as a last resort. If that doesn't work find it a new home.
Perhaps it is a golden time to abandon spinning cds and to embrace streaming.

A good dac with either a high quality computer setup or a streamer will offer far better sound then your old and out of date Krell CD player.
Did you remove the solder blob that protects the laser from static discharge after you installed it ?

Best of Luck

Peter