NAD C 521 i - Advice

Hi everyone,
I need advice from our knowledgeable Audio Pandits,so please help me. Yesterday while enjoying a nice Sunday music listen in, I noticed that some CDs from my collection wouldn't play at all. The display said "no disc". Some that did play made a peculiar clicking noise in the music.Others played just fine. Could this be due to a dirty lens ? I would be grateful for your advice before I take it across to Sound & Vision.

Hi Sanjay,

Am assuming all the CDs you were trying to play (unsuccessfully) were store-bought red book CDs, else you would have detected a pattern. Am not familar with the player you have, but there can be problems sometimes with data CDs, or ones copied on to blank CDRs.. or some of the esoteric formats - recently an XRCD I bought refused to play on my equipment, and Planet M took it back saying that other users had reported the same issues.

On physical inspection - if you see scratches, dirt etc. these can be rectified to some extent and you can try playing again before you send the player back. For tips on this, search the forum for a very helpful thread contributed by Kamal.

Persiflage

Hi Persiflage,
Thanks for your advice.All the CD's that actually played were store bought.Some of the others that refused to play were also store bought and also some compilations made for me by my sister -in -law (All the bad Blues Men ) which had played OK in the past. I think I'll clean the lens and see what happens. Cheers,

Ah well, if some discs had played before and are no longer playing, it's obviously the player. Dusty lens is easily rectified (if that is indeed a problem). Give it a try and see. On further reflection, the clicking noise is not a good sign either, unless it's one of those particularly noisy transports. Difficult to tell without hearing first hand. Keep us updated on how it goes..

On a lighter note, you sure have one rockin' sis-in-law, or should it be bluesy! All of mine, fond of them as I am, are tone-deaf, beyond redemption I'm afraid :-)

Sure, will do. Yes, both the sis -in -law and the wife have excellent tastes in music, which is a great relief, otherwise life would be one long battle. Now I'm trying to get my daughters to share some of our music - so far only with moderate success.Cheers,

Hi Sanjay,
Both the Nad cdps 521 & 542 would sometimes not read discs and the dreaded NO DISC is displayed(owned both cdps) I cleaned the lens and sometimes they would still display the same message. Finally i wrote to Nad and the response was that a diode had to be upgraded which was done at lakozy (distributor of nad in bbay) and the cdp played fine ever after. Was a 5 minute procedure and i was not charged anything as it was within a year of purchase.
Regarding the clicking noise in the music please inspect the cd. Many years ago i heard what i would call 'crackle' in a sony cdp and the culprit was moisture droplets on the cd which i wiped out and all was fine.
Regards

PS- When i had the NO DISC problem and went to Lakozy with the instructions from Nad i was told by the sales staff that its a very common occurence in most Nad cdps and happens ever so often even in their showroom when they put on the electronics every morning!!!!!!!!

Hi Dinyaar,
Thanks for the info - it sure makes me feel better to know that mine is not a unique problem. I'll clean out the lens and see what happens.If that doesn't work, then I'll take it across to Sound & Vision and askthem about the diode upgrade. Cheers,

An update on this baffling situation. Some of the CDs that played last time failed today and vice versa.Only the older ones play OK,i.e,the titled ones rather than "The Best of ....."Slipped in the CD lens cleaner(discwasher) and lo and behold .... the damn thing said "no disc "( played OK in the past ). So Shantanu it will be after he gets back in mid September. Until then,no compilation CDs. Cheers.

Hi,

If your CD player is more than 2 years,chance of cd laser worning out
is more.

I changed my DVD payers lens and same message went away.

Just an update on this post. The CD player is now fine after Sound & Vision serviced it. All the CDs play on it without exception and thetre are no more spooky messages.Cheers,
Sanjay