Sony CDP-CX355 Trouble

[GO-NAD!]

After messing around with LPs on Saturday, yesterday I decided I needed to update the index for the two Sony CDP-CX355 CD changers. I used to be pretty diligent about entering each new CD into the index and assigning a slot in one of the changers. Wellll, I got kinda lazy on that over the last couple of years. After buying a new CD, I would immediately rip it to a FLAC file for playback over SONOS. Then, the CD would end up in a cupboard or drawer.

So, I gathered all those CDs together and started entering them into my index - it's just a table in a Word document with the artist, album title and CD changer slot number. When I added them all up, I had 616 CDs...and CD changer capacity for 600.

Not only that, the carousel on one of them was struggling to rotate as I looked for empty slots...and then stopped rotating altogether and "Table Error" came up in the display. What to do? A Google search lead to a Youtube video about trouble shooting. First thing is to open it up and look at the rubber belts (there are two). One of mine was clearly broken and the other didn't seem to have much tension, so probably stretched. I probably cursed myself by teasing @Alex2507 about stripping his changer down.

There was nothing for it, but to take all the CDs out. So, dig the boxes of cases out of storage and start removing from the changer. The carousel is not easy to turn by hand, so I don't know if there is/are any other problems with it. Once I finish removing the CDs - of course, not all the cases for the CDs in that changer are in the same boxes - I'll need to do a partial stripdown to remove the carousel to access the belt pulleys and see if there are any other obvious mechanical issues with it. If I don't see anything else, I may take the risk of ordering replacement belts - C$30/pr - and putting it back together.

If it works, I still have a capacity problem. If it doesn't work, I have a BIG capacity problem...

 

[slipperybidness]

After messing around with LPs on Saturday, yesterday I decided I needed to update the index for the two Sony CDP-CX355 CD changers. I used to be pretty diligent about entering each new CD into the index and assigning a slot in one of the changers. Wellll, I got kinda lazy on that over the last couple of years. After buying a new CD, I would immediately rip it to a FLAC file for playback over SONOS. Then, the CD would end up in a cupboard or drawer.

So, I gathered all those CDs together and started entering them into my index - it's just a table in a Word document with the artist, album title and CD changer slot number. When I added them all up, I had 616 CDs...and CD changer capacity for 600.

Not only that, the carousel on one of them was struggling to rotate as I looked for empty slots...and then stopped rotating altogether and "Table Error" came up in the display. What to do? A Google search lead to a Youtube video about trouble shooting. First thing is to open it up and look at the rubber belts (there are two). One of mine was clearly broken and the other didn't seem to have much tension, so probably stretched. I probably cursed myself by teasing @Alex2507 about stripping his changer down.

View attachment 40265

There was nothing for it, but to take all the CDs out. So, dig the boxes of cases out of storage and start removing from the changer. The carousel is not easy to turn by hand, so I don't know if there is/are any other problems with it. Once I finish removing the CDs - of course, not all the cases for the CDs in that changer are in the same boxes - I'll need to do a partial stripdown to remove the carousel to access the belt pulleys and see if there are any other obvious mechanical issues with it. If I don't see anything else, I may take the risk of ordering replacement belts - C$30/pr - and putting it back together.

If it works, I still have a capacity problem. If it doesn't work, I have a BIG capacity problem...

DANG!

Sorry man, I was the first to start talking about those Sony Mega Changers.....look at that rabbit hole I opened up for you

 

[GO-NAD!]

DANG!

Sorry man, I was the first to start talking about those Sony Mega Changers.....look at that rabbit hole I opened up for you

No problem, my man. This is forcing me to sort my collection out. There are a lot of these CDs that I rarely, if ever, listen to anymore. I'm thinking about really paring down the numbers. I have everything ripped to FLAC and stored on a 3 TB NAS and backed up on a separate hard drive. If I have a catastrophic soft storage failure, it won't be a big loss if I don't have hard backups for albums I don't listen to.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Finally finished removing all the CDs and putting them back in their cases. Now to remove the carousel and inspect the drive mechanism. If everything looks good, I think I'll order the belts - I found another source for just C$14, including shipping. Perusing Ebay, it looks like these changers are still worth some pretty good coin, when functional, of course.

 

[Alex2507]

So did you find out anything about dusting off laser eyes?

Don't make me ask again. Instant karma has your address now.

 

[GO-NAD!]

So did you find out anything about dusting off laser eyes?

Don't make me ask again. Instant karma has your address now.

Nope. But, the cover comes off easy - just 9 Philips head screws. If you look in the back left corner, you'll see that white paddle-shaped do-hickey. The disc reader (not sure of the exact terminology) is under there and quite visible. Sooo...what are you waiting for?

These machines are selling for respectable prices on Ebay, so it would be worth investigating any problems before junking it.

 

[slipperybidness]

No problem, my man. This is forcing me to sort my collection out. There are a lot of these CDs that I rarely, if ever, listen to anymore. I'm thinking about really paring down the numbers. I have everything ripped to FLAC and stored on a 3 TB NAS and backed up on a separate hard drive. If I have a catastrophic soft storage failure, it won't be a big loss if I don't have hard backups for albums I don't listen to.

I think

So did you find out anything about dusting off laser eyes?

Don't make me ask again. Instant karma has your address now.

So did you find out anything about dusting off laser eyes?

Don't make me ask again. Instant karma has your address now.

I have had success with a cleaning CD in cheap players, dunno if I would risk it in a better player, but these are available

Amazon.com: Maxell Safe and Effective Feature CD Player and Game Station Compact Disc Cleaner CD-340 190048 CD/CD-ROM Laser Lens Cleaner: CD Cleaner: Home Audio & Theater

Amazon.com: Maxell Safe and Effective Feature CD Player and Game Station Compact Disc Cleaner CD-340 190048 CD/CD-ROM Laser Lens Cleaner: CD Cleaner: Home Audio & Theater

www.amazon.com

 

[GO-NAD!]

Looking back, I purchased the two CD changers in 2009 and used them until 2015, when I got SONOS. So, for the last five years, they've served as nothing more than CD storage. I really should have sold them then.

Discussed it with the Missus last night and came to the decision to empty the second unit and get rid of both. So, we got started on that. The machine was full and we have just....200 more to put in their cases. It's not a quick process. I'll insert a Sony DVD/CD player (that I happen to have on hand) in their place to serve as a back-up player, when/if required. I'll need to install another shelf in the cabinet to place that and the radio tuner on.

Then, I'll have space in the bottom of the cabinet to store vinyl.

 

[snakeeyes]

Wow! I have one of these changers. I had a computer keyboard to type in every movie title and it took months to do that. Only Sony movies would auto populate titles.

Mine is the DVD version and HDMI stopped working on it a few years after I bought it, so it’s dead to me. I had moved on from it. Maybe someday I’ll buy dvd cases and unload it. At this point I have a lot of the same movies on Blu-ray though. LOL

 

[oldtechuser]

After messing around with LPs on Saturday, yesterday I decided I needed to update the index for the two Sony CDP-CX355 CD changers. I used to be pretty diligent about entering each new CD into the index and assigning a slot in one of the changers. Wellll, I got kinda lazy on that over the last couple of years. After buying a new CD, I would immediately rip it to a FLAC file for playback over SONOS. Then, the CD would end up in a cupboard or drawer.

So, I gathered all those CDs together and started entering them into my index - it's just a table in a Word document with the artist, album title and CD changer slot number. When I added them all up, I had 616 CDs...and CD changer capacity for 600.

Not only that, the carousel on one of them was struggling to rotate as I looked for empty slots...and then stopped rotating altogether and "Table Error" came up in the display. What to do? A Google search lead to a Youtube video about trouble shooting. First thing is to open it up and look at the rubber belts (there are two). One of mine was clearly broken and the other didn't seem to have much tension, so probably stretched. I probably cursed myself by teasing @Alex2507 about stripping his changer down.

View attachment 40265

There was nothing for it, but to take all the CDs out. So, dig the boxes of cases out of storage and start removing from the changer. The carousel is not easy to turn by hand, so I don't know if there is/are any other problems with it. Once I finish removing the CDs - of course, not all the cases for the CDs in that changer are in the same boxes - I'll need to do a partial stripdown to remove the carousel to access the belt pulleys and see if there are any other obvious mechanical issues with it. If I don't see anything else, I may take the risk of ordering replacement belts - C$30/pr - and putting it back together.

If it works, I still have a capacity problem. If it doesn't work, I have a BIG capacity problem...

You didn't have to take the disc's out to change the drive belts. You can do it on 300 changers by taking the back off. There are You Tube Videos on how to do that.