Naim CD3.5 reading disc but throwing ERR when playing, or not reading discs at all..

[Dowser]

*** Re-instatement from PFM timewarp DB crash earlier today ***

Hi All

Just picked up a fault CD3.5 - it supposedly had laser replaced a while back, then wasn't used for 6 months, and is now showing an ERR.

After being in direct sunlight for an hour, it reads discs after cleaning laser, but when I press play it runs for around 5 seconds, then starts skipping, then throws the ERR and stops a second or 2 later. Doesn't seem to matter when on disc - it will search and find track when skipping half way through disc, but does same thing; plays for a few seconds then throws the ERR and stops (it goes back to original TOC).

Once sun had gone from my balcony, it stops reading disc TOC at all (8 degree ambient without sun, circa 25 with...welcome to Swissieland ).

Any ideas before I whip it apart to inspect?

Thanks, Richard

DubbLinn responded earlier today (also gone);

I had a similar issue with my CD3.5. A quick clean of the puck sorted it for me, worth a try.

I tried a known good puck from one of my CDi's already, so not that.

I have a spare good 12.4 mech from Donberg (I bought 2, one already used to fix a Micromega), so I suppose next stage is to transplant the laser across into the 12.5 mech in the 3.5.

Any other ideas, please let me know.

Thanks! Richard

 

[Dowser]

I had another look at this tonight - removed the whole swinging mech assembly, stripped out the PACB with laser, cleaned and regreased it. Put the swing assembly back in, balanced mech on top of it and connected up, but it appears as if the sled motor has no power (winding laser half way out, it no longer moves back to inside on powering on). What is the trick here? How do I run the mech outside of the original assembly - see photos below; is this a switch of some sort? Can I just short it?

Thanks, Richard

Tried to run it like this, sled motor doesn't return to inside on power up;

Is this a switch?

Thanks!

 

[gaz25]

magnet under the switch will get it running

 

[MJS]

Yes, that's a reed switch that's actuated by a magnet near the edge of the player. Take the plastic bottom from the tray and lay it in the cd player. You can now run the pcb next to the door switch and it'll let you observe what's going on.

 

[Dowser]

Great, thanks both - thought it must be, but it was too cold on my balcony this time of year to experiment

Thanks again, Richard

 

[Dowser]

Yay - vam 1204 Laser transplanted into the 1205 mech after a bit of fat finger fiddling and it’s playing music now. Quite surprised how nice it sounds - has the qualities I like about my Micromega Stage 3. Does the cd 3.5 use dual tda1305s too?

I leave it running a while, then I guess it would be rude not to do Acoustica mod 7 before boxing it up

Thanks again for above advice, Richard

 

[MJS]

The cd3.5 uses a single TDA1305 DAC. The rail filter fix mod 7 is something we do as a matter of course with these. Enjoy it, I agree it's a very musical player.

 

[Dowser]

Thanks - mod 7 makes a nice difference to an otherwise stock player, harder edges and more refined at same time - nice! Thanks Martin

Player is up for sale though, see ad in classifieds, £230 + shipping. I have too many CDPs already, and prefer my Micromega Stage 3 for a tda1305 implementation, and my 2 CDIs overall regardless

But even while typing this while listening to it...I could easily live with this as my only player...should I try my ALWSR dual rail DIY PSU on it I wonder....

 

[Dowser]

Aaaannnnddd...with my Frankenstein dual-rail NAC PSU from years and years back - sounds better, but not as much difference as applying mod 7. I wonder if difference would have been greater without Mod 7...should have tried I guess. I haven't powered this thing up in at least 4 years...I was surprised it still ran!;

All in all, I am very impressed by the CD3.5 - a very competent player at its price point and as per above, I could easily live with it...if I didn't already own the CDIs I would guess this now beats my Stage 3, but I haven't even modified that so far.

Richard

 

[atca]

Hi Richard,

my CD 3.5 has similar errors as yours had.
How did you manage to remove the whole swinging mech assembly, and stripped out the PACB with laser..?

Did you remove the whole drawer from the 3.5?

I cannot reach all the screws at the bottom of the drawer to open it without removing it from the player.. But I don´t know how to get the drawer out of my 3.5.

Could you give some helpful hints?

Thanks in advance. I have a replacement 12.5 mech here..

Markus

 

[Dowser]

You have to remove outer case first. Then from memory you can remove the whole swing assembly & ribbon cable. It’s then pretty straightforward if you’re used to messing with mechanicals...if not I’d suggest getting someone else to do the replacement for you.

Note: I sold the above player, but after a month or two it started skipping again. This was with a new Donberg mech - so far I have used 5 of these in various players and this was the first I’ve known to give problems (12.x replacement mechs have a terrible reputation for reliability!). Luckily, another member (thanks again @Mike P !) fitted another spare Donberg mech for me (saving me/the buyer return postage to CH!) to it and I believe it has been fine since.

Have fun!

 

[Mike P]

You have to remove outer case first. Then from memory you can remove the whole swing assembly & ribbon cable. It’s then pretty straightforward if you’re used to messing with mechanicals...if not I’d suggest getting someone else to do the replacement for you.

Note: I sold the above player, but after a month or two it started skipping again. This was with a new Donberg mech - so far I have used 5 of these in various players and this was the first I’ve known to give problems (12.x replacement mechs have a terrible reputation for reliability!). Luckily, another member (thanks again @Mike P !) fitted another spare Donberg mech for me (saving me/the buyer return postage to CH!) to it and I believe it has been fine since.

Have fun!

I'm going from memory but I'm fairly sure I took the outer case off and then removed the whole swing-out drawer mechanism by removing the pin which it hinges on. From there I seem to remember removing a number of screws on the underside of the laser mech/drawer assembly.

I believe it was 95% OK after I replaced the laser and then a new puck made it 100%.

 

[atca]

OK, thanks.. That´s what I supposed to be done.. But unfortunately the screw on the underside of the case which holds the pin is so damn tight that I cannot remove it with normal power.. Hope WD40 will help...

 

[Dowser]

Sehe mein PM Markus - sorry, habe nicht realisiert du in der Schweiz war

Im schlechtem Fall - Post a Photo

 

[atca]

Hi, thanks to all who replied and gave me some hints.
Yesterday I managed to change the Laser Unit and now my CD 3.5 plays music as new..

I had a complete drive VAM1205 which I bought years ago from Justone Schnepel as refurbished. First I wanted to change to whole mechanics, but then I decided to avoid soldering which would have been necessary to change the drive incl. the engine

2nd reason was, that my original VAM1205 has a Cover (?) around the moving laser head which avoids dust and dirt to enter the drive..
I wonder if there is no possibility to buy such a cover separately, which fits into the recess of the drive Philips-VAM-drives. But I couldn´t find it on the internet.

All the spare-drives you can get, don´t have a cover. This won´t be a problem for normal closed CD-Players, but in my eyes it´s not ideal for the naim, where you pull out the whole laser mech each time you change your CD.

Does somebody know, if you can get it somewhere seperately? It should be self-adhesive..

@Mike

Btw I have different pucks. When I got my Naim CD 3.5 I often left the CD in it.. This is what makes the puck-rubbers die.. because they are always under pressure. So today I takes the CD always out when I stop listening.. an then I put the puck on the drive without CD, so the rubbers can recover...

Since then I didn´t need another new puck..