Ticking noise in Audio Research Reference CD7

Amuseb,

You should have mentioned that your wife's family hails from Allentown. That's practcially in my backyard. I live in the Philly burbs. Don't know how feasible this idea is but here goes.

The ARC service rep I'm thinking about lives in Elkins Park, PA. Cal can give you his contact information. The tech's first name is Dan and he works with Cal and Chris all the time.

So here's the idea. I bet Dan can fix the unit and do the upgrade too. He is very accomodating. Anyway, check with Cal and talk to Dan. If your in-laws can bring the CD-7 back to the US with them, it's about a 45 minute drive from Allentown to Elkins Park. Heck, Dan might even drive up to Allentown if you pay for his time and miles.

After the unit is fixed, your in-laws can either ship it back or bring it back on their next visit. Hopefully, replacing or fixing the affected parts in the transport may not be too big a deal. This may hurt a bit, but it might just be easier to buy a new replacement from ARC and have them send it to Dan. He can bring the new transport with him to Allentown and one, two six, he's done. I gather the PS upgrade is a snap and the drop in of the transport a 30 minute or less job. I bet Dan would spend more time in the car then with the CD-7.

If this doesn't work, maybe something in the middle, like Dan fixing just the transport and have the PS upgrade done where you live. Anyway, talk to Cal and Dan and see what you can arrange.

Let me know how this works out for you. As you see, the ARC community is a like family.

Good luck.

Amuseb - I'm surprised you haven't solved your problem yet.

Why don't you get a brand new CD-Pro2 transport mechanism from ARC (or any DIY vendor in Europe) and replace it yourself ?

This is a 10 to 15 minute job, no soldering necessary, you just need to remove 4 hex screws that are holding the transport mechanism, and then reconnect all connectors (from what I remember there are 4 or 5 connectors total).

That will solve all problems you are experiencing, as the new mech will come with a new servoboard.

You can contact DAISy for the ne CD-Pro2 transport - they are the OEM CD-Pro2 supplier and have their warehouse located in France:

http://www.daisy-laser.com/index.htm

A complete new transport mech will cost less than a return trip of the unit to the US.

Bruce, thanks for the Allentown connection idea but I think that sending the unit back and forth to the US would be very cumbersome. Only the thought of sending this big box with my in-laws back to the US makes me sweat, namely after what my mother in-law had to go through the time she brought over to Paris a King Cobra 3 wood I had ordered in the US... her experiences with security, customs, etc will be told forever around the family Christmas table while I feel bad and sorry...
Maybe we'll just keep your proximity in mind for a little audiophile encounter the next time we're visiting PA...

Elberoth2, indeed, it's taken sometime to take action. First of all there was only the ticking noise and speaking to ARC, Cal and the their service manager, they suggested to just leave it alone as they thought the issue wasn't serious ("it could happen that the transport ticks when looking for the next track"). Now the spinning noise is more serious (it's that one side of the disc the CD seats on is lower than the other and it touches the metal body of the transport when spinning) so since yesterday I just turned off the unit until it's fixed.
Looking for a transport in France brought zero result (believe it or not) and I have to move forward on ordering it from another EU country.

Can you remind me, from your knowledge, if the cd-pro2 is a straight on one-2-one replacement in the CD7 that doesn't call for any SW/HW modifications on the COTS unit?

Regards from a sunny Paris.

elberoth2, I guess replacing the cd-pro2 is a straight forward drop in that doesn't call for any specific ARC SW modifications or such, isn't it?

Yes, it is plug and play.