CD skipping at high volume...help!

[cumbrian_sounds]

Hi folks!

Should I buy a new CD player? I'm sick of mine skipping.

I love my music and when the neighbours are out (and I even mean the ones two doors down) I like to turn it up a bit. By the phrase 'a bit', I really mean a massive amount. I don't have a big room for the HiFi, so I didn't get massively powerful gear. The problem is that the amp/speaker sub-woofer combination means that the CD player starts skipping around hysterically when the amp is nowhere near 1/2 power.

I've tried all sorts and get minor improvements but just when you want to play Comfortably Numb or Linkin Park a bit louder it goes haywire! Doh! I am wondering if it is my old Sony CD that cannot cope with the vibrations.

I have an old (150 yrs+) house with a suspended floor. This is my music kit:

P. P. Should this post be in another forum?

Amp: NAD C255BEE
Speakers: Monitor Audio Silver RS8 floor standers and Monitor Audio RSW12 sub.
CD player: Sony CDP-325M

The latter is ancient.

I have tried moving the speakers around, especially the woofer. It makes little difference. I have even tried putting car-jacks under the cabinet that holds the amp etc. This gave a limited improvement.

I have come to the conclusion that unless I can completely isolate the CD from the floor by putting it on wall-mounted brackets that I will not win.

I would be prepared to buy a new CD if it solved the problem, but would I be wasting my money? Are newer CD players that much more immune to vibration? Given that my CD player still works, should I go with the idea of isolating it from floor transmitted vibrations? I know this works because I have sat and lifted the CD in my hands while getting somebody else to turn up the volume to ridiculous levels. As long as I keep steady, the music is good! This is not a great long-term solution though, because I can't really enjoy Gilmour's solo whilst concentrating on holding the CD player level!

Can you help? I really like to feel the bass shaking my ribs!

 

[mjp200581]

Why not invest in a hard drive/server of some sort and copy all of your CD's to that instead of buying a new CD player? The server will be immune to floor vibration.
I'm surprised that your CD player is so sensitive to vibration, mine can be picked up and moved by hand without skipping. Might be worth giving the lens a clean.
Do a Google search for CD player vibration isolation techniques. One technique which might help is to rest the player on top of a partially inflated bicycle inner tube.
My own player sits on four half squash balls (squash balls cut in half).

 

[banpe2006]

try some sort of isolation device before giving up
Ive tried bubble wrap, sorbothane, chopping boards and some round wooden discs with a dimple in the middle with ball bearings between wood and cdp under
The latter worked really well
Don't have a suspended floor though.
Are you using a decent rack to isolate from floor? You mention a cabinet? Does it have spikes to the floor? If not you could try that

 

[cumbrian_sounds]

Why not invest in a hard drive/server of some sort and copy all of your CD's to that instead of buying a new CD player? The server will be immune to floor vibration.
I'm surprised that your CD player is so sensitive to vibration, mine can be picked up and moved by hand without skipping. Might be worth giving the lens a clean.
Do a Google search for CD player vibration isolation techniques. One technique which might help is to rest the player on top of a partially inflated bicycle inner tube.
My own player sits on four half squash balls (squash balls cut in half).

I've tried lens cleaning. The CD player is ancient mind. I bought it more than twenty years ago!

I'll give the bike tyre and other ideas a shot. I certainly couldn't move the player like yours. I can lift it gingerly and vertically but the slightest jerky motion will make it skip. maybe the tracking mechanism is just plain worn out after all that use. Thanks for the tips.

 

[cumbrian_sounds]

try some sort of isolation device before giving up
Ive tried bubble wrap, sorbothane, chopping boards and some round wooden discs with a dimple in the middle with ball bearings between wood and cdp under
The latter worked really well
Don't have a suspended floor though.
Are you using a decent rack to isolate from floor? You mention a cabinet? Does it have spikes to the floor? If not you could try that

No proper rack. I had wondered about mounting the hifi gear off the wall which is 16 inches thick and solid brick. That would eliminate ground-borne vibration but is a bit of hassle. I've got plenty of bubble wrap lying around. That's worth a shot. I tried strips of door draught-proofing under the cdp's feet and that gave temporary improvement until it became compacted.

Then I just have to wait for the neighbour to go out and see how much better it is!

Thanks for the tips.

 

[cumbrian_sounds]

Doh!

I tried a few of the suggestions. My poor old CD just didn't like any of them. It is so sensitive (bless it) that the least little touch has it skipping like a ten year old girl in a playground (and that's vigorous). From your posts, you are surprised by this sensitivity. So am I. It has gradually worsened, though and I suspect that the tracking mechanisms on the laser are simply worn out.

I am venturing forth to Peter Tyson's shortly, to look at the Marantz CD5004 and 5005, as well as an Onkyo T-4030 DAB+ tuner. Hopefully, the CD will consign my fossil to the bin and eliminate Skippy, the bush kangaroo from my Hi-Fi*. With a DAB/DAB+ tuner, I can negate the government's ludicrous plans to switch from FM to the lower DAB standard and maybe DAB+ (like every other country seems to be introducing) at a later date. I can then listen to Planet Rock or 'Test match special' for years!

* (For those of you who are too young to remember, Skippy was the Australian version of Lassie, from a long-running TV series in the seventies. As the title suggests, he was a kangaroo. Skippy is also the nickname that I have given to my old CD player. Skippy was amazing and could communicate with his owners, relating complex disaster stories with a few clicking sounds. They would then race to the rescue of the imperilled children/grandmas/rabbits/disabled people and the day would be saved...hurray! My personal Skippy just spoils my music...Boo!)

 

[cumbrian_sounds]

Maybe this ends the thread.

I've just wired up the Marantz CD5005, not altering anything else about the set-up.

I then unleashed the demon most culpable for making the old CDP jump about like a frog on acid: Linkin Park, Meteora.

I turned up the volume control on the NAD with all the trepidation of someone with the DT's picking up a flask of nitro-glycerine...nothing happened.

That is to say that nothing happened except that the floor shook, my chest and walls expanded and throbbed and I felt the sort of tingle you only experience at a Motorhead concert.

Hmmm. Problem solved. I am now deaf but that does not stop me typing.

As an aside, I had expected the Marantz to blow me away in some respect other than its apparent indifference to vibration. It didn't, despite trying all manner of music. Surprisingly, the one difference that struck me in comparison to my hard-worked Sony was that the bass was deeper to the point that I had to lower the sub-woofer. It also seemed to be more precise. I had expected this clarity to show up more in the high frequencies. Having said that, in passages of play with harp on Loreena McKennit's 'The book of secrets', I seemed to hear more subtle details from the harp. I hasten to add that I did not find fault with the Marantz, it was just that it wasn't leagues better than my old Sony. Maybe that's just digital recordings, a good amp and a decent set of speakers and cables for you?

This tendency to reveal more detail in the music persisted. What I plan to do is plug the old Sony into the amp and play a Green Day CD on both. I have two copies of this for some reason, so I can swap instantly from one to the other. If I play them both simultaneously, I should be able to see exactly what differences there are.

Thanks for the help. The most telling observation about the skipping problem was that it should not be happening!

 

[Alan]

I raelly dont want to be your neighbour dude but Rock on