Troubleshooting a Naim CD3 problem

[Pauliewaulie]

hi,

I’ve just bought a secondhand CD3 player.

I <deep breath> didn’t know about the transit locks before I put it in the car and bought it home. The guy (a friend) who sold it me (at a stunningly low price) gave me a bag of connections and accessories that I now realise includes the transit lock screws. He didn’t remember them either.

My CD3 player works stunningly well with some CDs but others won’t even load.

Is my failure to use the transit lock screws the reason for this? And if so, is this fixable?

Anyone know?

Thanks

 

[Bob McC]

Try cleaning the laser.

 

[jimmytwos]

Hi I think the 3.5 uses the Philips cdm12 or a variant of it? If it plays sometimes but not others it can be a sign of the laser mechanism starting to reach the end of its life. Those particular Philips mechanisms have known to be at least fussy and at worse fail. If you're happy to open it up the first thing I would do is remove the mechanism from the swing assembly and clean the sled rails and add some fresh lubricant, I have come across a few of these mechanisms and often cleaning the old lubricant off and adding new will solve the problem.
Failing that the mechanism is available on the usual websites for next to nothing but be mindful that Philips no longer manufacture these so assume they are unofficial "copies" with variable degree of quality. I've bought these and fitted them in the past but as they are copies best buy more than one considering how cheap they are as some can be doa.

 

[martin clark]

CD3 uses CDM9/44, a robust swing-arm mech. Very, very unlikely to be the laser if it works at all. Clean the turntable and the puck rubbers with alcohol and try again. NB don't use alcohol on the laser lens - v weak water+ a merest drop of surfactant only.

(missing the transit locks won't have made a diff at all if you didn't drop it; don't worry about that.)

 

[Dozey]

A bit of paper under the puck can help. I think some cds are a bit too thin.

 

[MJS]

Without locking the laser mechanism in place the platter drops down the shaft in transit. The servo may then struggle to maintain focus on the disk as it isn't where it should be! You may need to lift the platter up a mm or so by getting something under the edges on two side and levering gently.