SACD repair?

@edcyn +1

I have a 20+ year old SONY CD/SACD carousel type of player. On SACD Hybrid discs, it only reads the CD Layer. On SACD only layer discs, it still reads SACD !!! Decided against any repair and bought me a nice Marantz SACD30n SACD network player.  Hope this lasts a couple of decades !

A local vintage stereo shop closed last spring, and I bought a used Sony SCD-XA9000ES during their final sale. Everything was as-is and due to the nature of the sale they had very limited ability to test gear prior to purchase. I did the best I could…tested that the drawer opened and closed and it played a standard disc fine.

When I finally had a chance to test it at home, I found it wouldn’t recognize hybrid discs…got a “no disc” message. Single layer discs just resulted in “error” message. Tried a calibration procedure with no luck. Contacted a local repair shop, was told it likely needed a new laser assembly, but those appear to be impossible to find (if they even still exist). 
 

Would love to find someone who can successfully repair the unit, but as it stands seems like the best I can hope for is a nice standard CD player and DAC. Also, this experience has kind of soured me on SACDs in general, as good SACD players seem to start at $1000+, and I’m not sure I’m willing to invest that for something with an obviously limited life span and no real way to repair once it starts giving out.

wpcheadle

Critical parts are no longer available for the SA-11S1 model. Now, the Good news.

These players do appear for sale quite often. Search (seek) the internet weekly for current activity. I concur, these players do sound Great! I own a SA-11S2 spinner.

Happy Listening!

@wpcheadle 

You didn't specify the problem.

With the SA-11S1 it is usually the laser going bad and not reading TOC on sacd's. If that is so, the laser is the HOP1200. It is still in production, cheap, and easy to replace. There is no adjustment to do, just swap the laser mechanisms.

That said, these lasers tend to have a short life. Your player is old, like really old. So either you didn't play it much, or you have been lucky. Any technician who works on cd players can install a new laser in these players for the minimum shop charge as it doesn't take too long to do.

If you have a different problem, then that is something altogether different. As the above post mentions, critical parts for this older player are generally not available any more unless the needed part can be salvaged from another player.