CD player just tanked.

sounds like dry joints on the split supply to the audio pre amps.check they have the split supply usually 15-0-15 across the + and - on the supply rails relative to ground.If not pull the main pcb and solder up the regulators and other dry joints.check the ground on the rca out, probably off..solder anyway if you have the pcb out.some have a bottom inspection panel which makes life easy.Good luckColin Cape town

colin, I can solder and I have a tester but I am totally helpless when it comes to electricity and  probably couldn't identify or find the various parts you're talking about. I also solder like a monkey so I'd probably mess up most of the solders.

But, I sure don't have anything to lose. Either it goes in the trash or I take a peek inside.

The pcb is??? Primary control board???

There was a surround sound pre-amp and a large 5 channel amp. The amp and pre-amp are very foreign to me.

The subwoofer is powered but I could not get it to drive the speakers. No sound from speakers at all even though the subwoofer was
going. 

Let the sub power itself and don't try to power the B&Ws with 25w. The large 5 channel amp is for the speakers. The sub amp is for the sub. Use line level (RCA cable) from the preamp to the sub. 

If you MUST use speaker level inputs then there is probably a switch on the sub you need to engage to tell it to use line level or speaker level.

The manuals will be a big help getting you started with that new setup. You can just hook up preamp to the 5 channel amp with just  2 RCA cables and only run 2 channels off the amp to the speakers. You don't need to fully set everything up in 5.1 to get started. 2.0 or 2.1 should be great. Depending on the bass output in your listening room you may not even need the sub if you haven't been using one previously.

Also if you are young and without kids go racing now save your love of audio for when you can't justify racing (time/cost/risk) anymore due to having family and/or are paying for private school and college and all that other fun stuff. And then enjoy racing and audio after all that. I'm in the paying/saving stage right now and sold my track car and lifts and other toys related to the hobby as I just can't justify racing a few times a year for how much it costs and how I am putting myself at risk as well.

HTH!

PCB= printed circuit board. That’s all I know about technical stuff.

jennerl, I tried what you recommended but no go. I’m sure I’m doing something wrong. However, there is also a like-new Onkyo home theater system with standard speaker and sub hook ups and it is 85 watts per channel so I’m going to try that for simplicity.

Technically I am not racing. Just track days. I’m an instructor. I’ve got roll bar, race seats, HANS and all that for safety. We have an instructor run group and even though we aren’t technically "racing"....we are actually racing a good bit...informally...so safety is a serious (and expensive) issue.

My children are grown and on their own. I’m in pretty good health. Hope to keep doing this another 5-10 years. Other than tires and brake pads I’ve got the expenses pretty low.