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Has my Meridian 506 become an expensive door stop?

A couple of years ago I purchased a used Meridan 506 CD player for a fairly reasonable price. At first it worked fine and sounded great, but a few months later it began having difficulty reading and sometimes tracking discs. About a year and a half ago I contacted Meridian about getting it fixed and got a general estimate to replace the drive (or whatever the black-box fix was). At the time I wasn’t in the best shape financially so decided to live with it for the time being.

Recently I decided to have it taken care of and called again to get a repair authorization from Meridian. The rep informed me that parts are no longer available for the 506. (Goddamn designed obsolescence!) However, if I sent it in they could “grease the chassis”. Uh... well, I’m highly mechanically skilled, so I took the thing apart and did it myself. There wasn’t much to do (though getting it apart was an adventure), and I chose not to disassemble the laser mechanism. (The way the guy talked, the “lube job” would be of the transport and not the laser drive itself anyway.)

It didn’t noticeably change anything, and it’s continuing to get progressively worse. So what now? Is there anything I can do with this? Is there anywhere else besides Meridan itself that might have parts? Though I do enjoy quality sound I’ve always been on a very tight budget. (Most of my system is “hand-me-downs”.) I’m also reluctant to toss something that can be repaired (within reason).
r_leach
mcfarland
356 posts
 
Try cleaning the laser mechanism. 3M sells a laser cleaning disc for about $10.oo available at office supply stores and packaging stores (why they would carry such an object, I don't know). Anyway, it's worth a shot.
mlsstl
1,436 posts
 
Typical read problems with a CD player fall in four general areas.

1. Lubrication of the rails that guide the laser mechanism as it rides back and forth over the spinning CD and cleaning the laser lens.

2. Aging of the laser itself which requires replacement.

3. Alignment of the laser. This depends on the CD player involved and is usually an electrical calibration. Some players may do this automatically while others require special test equipment.

4. A failure or deterioration in the read circuitry. This would require replacing the circuit board.

Most problems are some combination of, or a variation on these.

If it were my machine I think the next step would be to run down a service manual to see what might be involved along the above lines.

Unfortunately many electronic pieces are not serviced the same as they were in the past. With tech labor rates often $75 or $100 an hour and the short life cycle for digital type parts before they are replaced by a new generation, keeping an old CD player running can range from costly to impossible.

We may whine about this, but this rapid pace of development is what has given us $400 laptops that are more powerful than the most expensive mainframes of not too many years ago. Obsolescence is the price of the rapid pace of progress.

Finally, you could simply replace it with another CD player and sell this one on eBay for parts use. You wouldn't likely get a whole lot, but you'd be doing something more than just tossing it in the trash.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,680 posts
 
AFAIK, Meridian sourced these transport mechanisms from a third party and did not make them. Therefore, there might be someone with a stock of these.

First, you have to find out what mechanism it is and, second, you have to find out who may have them.

A good place to start is at http://www.meridianunplugged.com/

Third, you have to decide if this effort/cost is worth it considering the age of the 506.

Kal
r_leach OP
5 posts
 
Thanks for the info. Gives me something to mull over instead of just fretting. I did the laser cleaner when this first started, with minor improvement (if any). I'll look into the rest as it makes sense. Cheers...
stevecham
3,340 posts
 
You laser needs replacement
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