An "Egg" In Some Trouble

PostEnder

Member (SA)
Nov 21, 2012
149
3
18
Southeastern U.S.A.
My Panasonic RX-DT75 has run into some trouble. My efforts to get it to play a probably bootleg copy of the 1996 seasonal album This Is Christmas by Luther Vandross have* made a mess of its electronics.

The laser pickup (or "focusing platform") is now somehow stuck. I hear a slight clicking sound of it trying to "read" a compact disc -- any CD -- but to no avail.

My smaller, cheaper JVC RD-T7 has been able to "read" and play the darned CD in recent years -- but only barely. The sound quality of that CD is very bad when played with the 'T7. (Well, the first two tracks are of that ten-song, ten-track recording, at any rate. Of course, I'm not faulting the singing and recording skills of the late Mr Vandross; he was a fine musician, God rest his soul.)

The CD-"burner" that we have here in our home seems to play the infernal CD just fine, as does the Bose Wave Radio/CD we have. (Their superior, pricier anti-shock, oversampling and tracking-laser electronics, no doubt.
)

The various "hacks" to fix a finicky CD player that I have seen in YouTube clips today don't seem to address the problem in a "Cobra top" Panasonic or in a somewhat similar boombox with a mid-centred CD player or with a CD player built into the bottom third or bottom fifth of that unit.

Some of the CD player sound systems in the video clips are boomboxes with top-mounted CD players. (That can give one false hope of a quick "just reach in and poke something" fix.)

Other CD players in those clips are home-stereo-type CD players, not boombox-type units like my now-afflicted Panny. :bang:

In any case, those "hacks" involve opening up the sound system to explore the electromechanical intricacies of capacitors, cogs, gears, wires, integrated circuit boards and all. I am still not a repairer -- despite any talk of "The (Transmogrifying) Magic Of Christmas" -- and I am thus even less willing to chance totally botching up the 'DT75 than I was with the Aiwa CS-600U. (Yes, I needed professional "rescuing," the costs included, with that one SMH)

A quote attributed to Erica Jong states: Advice is what we seek when we know the answer but wish we didn't. I suspect that I know the answer to this long message of mine: either risk damaging the big, elegant Panasonic RX-DT75 further by opening up the stereo with a sufficiently long screwdriver and hoping that I'll need to spend under fifty bucks for replacement parts (shipping included) or I cough up the sheaf of cash to make it worth the while of some professional repairer.

Either way, the "king" of my boombox collection is now halfway to being "an elegant, oversized doorstop!" Not a nice way to end this year -- or any year. :sadno:

------------

I GOT MY EYE ON YOU...
 

hopey

Member (SA)
Dec 28, 2014
1,262
278
83
Melb AU
You can try cleaning the lens with a cue tip and alcohol. Remember it will only play CDs from that era. It should have MASH which is generally pretty reliable. If it plays CDR you could create a fresh copy with your burner.
 

PostEnder

Member (SA)
Nov 21, 2012
149
3
18
Southeastern U.S.A.
Thanks for the reply, hopey. Actually, though: problem solved – that same day! (I hope.) I think that leaving the Panasonic out on my bedroom desk for hours while I was online, maybe also dealing with printer cartridges that needed changing, etc., was all it took to resolve the scary issue. Maybe overheating electronics just needed a cooldown. Maybe hours of unplugged non-usage were needed to wipe the ineffectual “repetitive motion” of the laser pickup from the boombox’s computer memory.
I think that I tested the RX-DT75 with a Sunday Brunch, Volume II CD we have. No playback or tracking issues that I can remember …