Is the Mephisto II reliable?

I would concurr with Brian's much more accurate answer. Pierre Lurne has been extremely helpful and provides great customer support. I have just recieved the new power cord and will put up a post in the next while once I have heard how it sounds. A question I keep forgetting to answer m. lurne and perhaps brian can answer is what do you do as far as cleaning the lens. I try to make sure it never gets any dust on if but have you ever cleaned yours? (hope this isn't hijacking this post). Again the unit is very reliable in my experience. Gary

I have had the Mephisto II CD Transport for more than two years, and I have never had any problems with it. I only used the Tracking feature once. The Tracking regulator allows you to adjust "from the outside" the E-F Balance between two photo-diodes in the unit, which for a three-laser pickup is responsible for tracking. Through break-in and ageing of the circuits, problems can arise in such a design through the drift of the pre-set value. The E-F balance is no longer correct, and the result is that the laser can no longer follow the pits of the CD. With the Mephisto II you can simply turn the Tracking regulator to find a new balance, rather than have to send the unit back to the factory for repair. A positive side-effect is that you can get the unit to read badly damaged CDs through an alteration of the E - F balance. As far as cleaning the lens, use a few well-directed bursts of compressed air: never wipe the lens with a clothe as it will leave scratches. The bubble level does not read out correctly on my unit, as the CDR 1 is not parallel to the chassis top: it would have made more sense to have installed the bubble level on the CDR-1 unit itself (as it was done on Pierre Lurne's belt-driven prototype drive-unit on which he studied optical and mechanical aspects of CD tracking). Simply place a portable bubble level on the CDR 1 platform and adjust for level based on its readings. I am glad to here that AM is offering a replacement RS232 cable, as the original stock cable did not provide fully adequate protection from noise, nor was inductivity from cable length adequately compensated for with MKP condensors in the unit. With the old cable and power unit, current rise-time was slowed-down and thus the dynamics were braked. Also, while it naturally improves the sound to have an external mains unit, I wish that AM had taken more care with their current filter and rectification. Notwithstanding, it is a reliable power unit, probably because it is so simple, and readily improvable through aftermarket power cables and AC regenerators.

Thanks to all that responded. You have allayed my fears. Thanks for the technical explanation, Slawney. Now it makes sense why they put the tracking control on the unit.