Audiophiles-Denon CD player help

T

termite

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Nov 10, 2004
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Hey all, I've a Denon DCD-660 CD player (yeah, sorta dated) that skips all over on occasion. Anyone tell me what's going on with it and is it worth getting fixed/looked at? I hate throwing things away and try to buy right once or at least not very often. Thanks in advance.
 
Shaolin said:
Probably just better to get a new one.
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+1 Unfortunately these days it's seldom worth the expense to get anything electronic fixed unless it's a very high dollar item.

My Kenwood cassette deck stopped working a couple of years ago. I seldom use the cassette deck but I still like having one around. I kept an eye open on eBay for a replacement and finally ended up with an older Nakamichi deck for $35. The only person I know of that works on electronics would have charged me $45 to open the Kenwood and find out what was wrong with it, and then charge parts/labor to fix it after that.
 
It may need to be cleaned. I am having a problem with my Sony SACD player reading the SACD layer on dual format discs. However, with that said, unless your Denon is one of the later multi-disc players, I would think about getting a new one. I bought my Sony for $400 as a close out at Sound Advice/Tweeter when ithe MSRP on the machine was over $1200, so even if I have a bigger reapir bill, I am still ahead of the game unless I have mods done and even then, I would have an even better player. Try finding a demo or used machine on Audiogon.com The problem you may run into in the future is that reasonable priced CD players that give you a glipse of high end sound may be increasingly harder to find as the big manufacturers go to Blu-Ray. My experience with my mass market Sony Blu-Ray machine is that it does Blu-Ray very well, including soundwise, but sounds like nails on a chalkboard with CD's when compared to my old machine. This was one of the problems with the original reasonably priced multi-disc machines. The players tended to sound great with the company's preferred format, be it SACD or the DVD Audio, but were found wanting on the other formats until you got up in the price range of the top of the line Denon or Pioneer machine or something like a McCormack. If you were willing to stick with CD plus one or the other hi res format, you could have gotten a VERY nice machine from companies like Phillips for a LOT less. Until such time as the Blu-Ray folks get serious about audio-only products, you are better off having a seperate player for your music. If you can afford it, I would even consider looking at a good music server like Olive as an alternative.
 
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I don't know when that model's debut was, but a couple years ago I trashed a harmon/kardon CD changer that had started having problems with the tray not unlocking when trying to change CDs. It was one of their old top-opening carousel changers, and was ~$800 in the early 90's. I started using a much cheaper and newer Panasonic DVD changer for CDs which had a lot more features. A few weeks after the 1 yr. warranty on it ended, it died.
I got almost 13 years out of the h/k, and less than 13 months out of the Panasonic. Despite the much greater selection of features on the new stuff, sometimes I do wish I'd gotten that h/k repaired instead of throwing it away.
Right now I use my Onkyo upconverting DVD player for CDs in my living room, but am not happy with the sound. I'm planning to get a dedicated CD player soon, but am lost about what is "good" in today's market.
I'm not stuck in the past, but audio equipment's quality seems to have dropped considerably over the years, along with the prices. My old h/k receiver is now over 16 years old, and I have little desire to replace it, even though I've upgraded speakers twice(Sony to Yamaha to Infinity).
Not sure where I'm going with all the rambling, except maybe to say that if you're happy with the Denon, and it has been reliable for a long time, maybe it is worth at least checking on how much it will cost to repair rather than replace it with a more modern "disposable" model, or with an expensive premium player.
 
Try a cleaning CD first, if that doesn't help is there any chance that it's a vibration problem? A strong subwoofer can sometimes vibrate the platform you put the player on. I used to have a sony deck that we used at a party once, every time someone bumped the table it would skip like crazy. If that's it then there's plenty of cheap ways to get around it. If none of the easy solutions work and it really does need repair I wouldn't bother, ebay it for a couple bucks and get a new player.
 
My sincere thanks to everyone. I've got a Denon receiver and Klipsch speakers that I never anticipate replacing, but I suppose that I'm living in the past to think that if you spend enough on good electronics that you can justify repairing them later on. I was told plenty, but still decided to spend on quality. I have cleaned it several times by the way and once again my thanks for what's been offered and to come. This place is great.
 
Buying quality is always a good idea, unfortunately everything mechanical eventually wears out, and consumer electronics aren't really set up for user maintenence. Any mechanical problem in the player could probably be traced to a simple worn out/old 10 cent rubber belt drive, but finding the right parts to fix it and someone that isn't a hack to do the work can be difficult.
 
I would love to buy quality. Lightening toasted my hifi of yesteryear consisting of a mix of B&O and Sony.

Chinese kit is all I get in electronic (barring PS2) as my kids are still at the age of destruction, warrantees just do not cover Salticrax (car radio some few years back). Our dust eats everything turning grease into grinding paste. I have often fitted belts from assorted office lacky bands to make things last a little longer.
 
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