Equipment question

[rjp]

I have a question that I know someone will have an answer for.

I have a Harmon-Kardon 8550 CD player (HDCD) that Has been acting up as of late. Every so often, more often after it has been on for a while, it will not acknowledge that there is a disc in the machine. The window just simply dislays "NO DISC". Also, I can't seem to find any reason for this. It will do it to a disc one day and then not the next. It does, however, consistantly do it to CD-R's.

I regularly clean it with both a wet and dry discwasher cleaning disc.

Is there anything i can do, or is it time for a new CD player?

Thanks ahead of time,

RJP

[Gary]

I have an HK with HDCD - carosel type. The only time it acted up (a while ago now) was when I did not put in the disc properly.

Sorry I could not be of more help. :(

[JohnnyK]

How old is your player? I had a three year old Marantz CD player that did the same thing. I described the problem to a Marantz service center. They told me to clean the laser. If that did not solve the problem then either the laser was defective of there was a problem with an electronic component or board. I was informed that, do to the cost of the repair, the player was not worth fixing. So I bought a new one. If your player is out of warrantee it is propably not worth fixing.

[Drew]

Renny, checkout the following link. It seems this is a recurring problem with this CD player.
http://www.audioreview.com/reviews/CDPlayer/product_4394.shtml

[Sckott]

If you're savvy with a philips screwdriver, sometimes it's static on the laser pickup. Check out getting a camera "blower" which is nothing but a squeeze-bulb with a fine soft brush on the end of it. You can pick up this gadget at many camera shops.

Just a quick cleaning of the pickup might be the ticket. However, some HK, Panasonic and Dennon Cd players have been known to have problems that go beyond a cleaning. Might be interesting and a cheap fix for you though, you never know.