If you recall, back in December I acquired a new (old) CD player, the same model I’d owned from 1990 until it just disappeared from my memory as well as the photographic record.
When I started rebuilding my CD collection, I couldn’t find that exact model to replace it. I settled for its little brother that soon proved very reluctant to work consistently and I replaced that with a brand new Yamaha CD-S303 player and donated it to Goodwill.
I was happy with the S303 (I still am, truth be told), but I still longed to get another Yamaha CDX-730. As I’ve written several times, nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
When one in good condition finally showed up on eBay, I secured it. Initially very happy with it, but then one day I put on a CD and it refused to play the final tracks. I performed due diligence and popped the cover, doing a clean and lube of the mechanism. Unfortunately the problem remained—and strangely only with the discs of that particular two-disk set as well as come random self-burned CDs.
I finally gave up and removed it from the system and reinstalled my new player which played anything you threw at it.
What I’d forgotten about was that I set a trigger on eBay to notify me when any 730s came available. The eBay algorithm casts a wide net on these searches so often I get a notification that doesn’t actually match exactly what I was looking for.
That happened about three weeks ago. I got notice that a CDX-930 (the 730’s big brother) was available. Now I have to admit I’ve kept an eye out for this model, but while they are available in abundance from Japan, the US 120V model is pretty rare. So when I got the notice that one had just been posted, I had to take a look. It wasn’t an auction; it was a buy it now listing, so I made an reasonable offer to the seller and he accepted. According to the listing, it was fully functional. There were the usual scuffs and scratches on the top case, but he said it was working.
I immediately listed the 730 to cover this expense. Lots of interest, but no takers just yet. (I just sold one of my other pieces of gear, so it’s covered in any case.)
The player arrived the day I went into the hospital. Because, you know everything is fucked these days.
I picked it up yesterday from the neighbors, who graciously removed it from our front porch to avoid losing it to porch pirates.
I got it unpacked and plugged in. I hit the open button and the tray slowly slid out—and then was immediately sucked back in. To its credit, if I got a disc in there fast enough it did play fine, but obviously this behavior was unacceptable long term.
Thankfully, over the past year I’ve watched more than enough YouTube videos that deal with this exact same problem from a variety of models and manufacturers, and I knew what was needed: replace the drawer belt and clean the limit switch that tells the drawer when it’s open or closed. It’s a task I knew I could handle without further fucking things up (as I am wont to do).
Sure enough, after some disassembly it was obvious the belt had gone sloppy. I didn’t have the exact size it needed in my belt collection, but slapped on one that was slightly smaller and it’s worked fine. I ordered the proper belt today and will tear everything apart again when it arrives.
I squirted some DeOxit D5 on the limit switch and moved it back and forth to make sure the solution hit the contacts, cleaned the laser lens with some IPA, plugged everything back in and tested. The drawer now behaved itself.
I mentioned that the CDX-930 was the 730’s big brother. That was an understatement. The 930 is a completely different beast—and I don’t use that term lightly. Full metal construction throughout, including the disk tray! The 930 also has a different laser assembly than the 730 and uses magnetic rails to move that assembly—versus the motor-driven gear setup on the 730.
As you can imagine, the 930 also weighs substantially more than the 730. The 730 was also full metal contruction—albeit with a plastic disk tray—but of a much lighter gauge aluminum than the 930.
But I know you’re wondering: did my problematic disks play? Without so much as a hiccup!
The CD-S303 went back in its box and into storage. Not getting rid of that because I want to keep it as a backup—just in case. Because you know everything is fucked these days.