Can I repair a $20 thrifted audiophile CARVER CD player?

[@dinosaursr]

Zen and the Art of CD Player Maintenance. Good job.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thank you! I enjoyed the one about motorcycles lol

[@arzabael]

Long Live Compact Disk. This was an exciting adventure dude good for you

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thanks for watching!

[@johncain7949]

I had this exact same CD player. I had it paired with a Luxman receiver and Advent speakers. This system sounded fantastic! As time marched on, I really enjoyed home theater. I purchased a Sony 4K blu-ray player, and began playing my CD's through it. I compared it to the Carver. The Sony blu-ray player was clearly superior. Not surprising as the Carver was much older. Not taking anything away from the Carver. It was truly great in it's day, and gave me many hours of enjoyment! John from Canada 🇨🇦

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome. Thank you for sharing!

[@cv507]

dcd 620

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

Belts are the most common problems in CD and Tape machines. Nicely done.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thanks! I've replaced a few belts in tape decks and boy is that a tedious job!

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

@@ForeverAnalog Sure is. One of the reasons I've stopped doing it.

[@cv507]

i have a Feti$.h? with cp´$. cd is nicer but häl is it our wörld´$ tech ? joust found sony tc kx # €$ vv and öc teac and yamaha dölby $ + play trim. sad cöz i like the nad löök. nad ämps rather ordinarry sound knöt trv? ´hi äend´ ^ ^ braun and uher also quite costlie still. just had a really loud xl ii $ mid? 90s so maybe get a shaft? cp ^ ^

[@mikecampbell5856]

I have a Carver TX-2 tuner that looks oddly just like that CD player. Great fix! Back in the day when CD players cost in the hundreds, a co worker went to a garage sale at a very expensive looking house. There was a non working CD player for 10 bucks and he took a chance and bought it. When he got home he took out the transport locking screw in the bottom that they all used to have and it worked great. I guess the original owner should have read the directions!

[@ForeverAnalog]

Those screws have messed up a lot of folks over the years, lol!

[@cv507]

had this on my dcd xD ovvnlee the möre xpensiFF önes häd it ^?^

[@dallasmorrison6983]

Wow!

[@knivesandfire1]

My Dad has an early 90s Carver system - Preamp tuner with Dolby Pro-Logic and “Sonic Holography” mode, power amp rated at 250w per channel and the “Amazing Loudspeaker” AL-III floorstanders. He never bought any of the Carver CD players, ran a JVC single disc player then later a five-disc changer. That Carver CD player would look pretty nice with the rest of his gear. And on a side note, we live less than a mile from where Carver Corp. used to have their facilities here in Lynnwood, WA. My Dad met Bob at one of the local former Magnolia Hi-Fi stores when Bob launched one of the first Sunfire products (the Cinema Grand power amp) and held a demo.

[@ForeverAnalog]

His Carver setup sounds amazing. Thanks for watching and sharing!

[@EricCarter-f2h]

I love looking and hearing professional CD players from DJ,s that club owners donate to thrift stores.

[@Unavintage]

I finaly found a cd player with digital output on a budget. Sony CDP-D11 conected to DAC NAD D3010. Wow, what a difference!

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome! I still think that’s the best bargain right now in hifi! Thanks for sharing.

[@DwayneMaxwell]

Great job! i picked up a Denon 5 disc changer that appeared to work at a thrift store a few weeks ago mainly because i read it had a good Burr Brown DAC and nice warmer sound to it and found that it was having a hard time reading any CDs esp the more i tried to play them and had crazy distortion when they did play. opened it up and found bad capacitors in the power supply section replaced them and its running like a top now for weeks!

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome! It feels so awesome to repair these units. Thanks for sharing!

[@Zimmy_1981]

congrats, I'm a huge sucker for disc changers

[@bpalpha]

I had been searching for a replacement CD player for at least four years at thrift stores. I settled on a Sony 5 disc changer with toslink out and remote for under $20. I would still love to find a better model. With times so tough, it's been difficult finding great items second hand. Too many re-sellers! Brilliant find btw! Exactly what I was looking for.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Great find! Congrats!

[@adsph]

Good stuff. I have a vintage NAD cd player 5240, 1987. Also has a 16 bit chip. Just single ended outs. Love it just the same

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome. I had a vintage NAD for a minute but sold to a friend who needed a CD player! Thanks for watching!

[@Robert.Chauval]

Good effort. So glad to see you showed how to make registration marks for moving mechanisms.. standard practise when fitting a car engine timing belt... The time lens feature sounds very much like a variation on a "binaural crossfeed filter" typically used to get the headphone inside your head soundstage experience to present in front of you .. tweaking the filter can change the out of head soundstage width and depth..

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thanks for the kind words and for watching!

[@jim010109]

That was awesome. Great video.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thanks, Jim!

[@ronaldweed6103]

YOU did good 👍 awesome find

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thank you!

[@ronaldweed6103]

@ForeverAnalog I have a question?? My new Marantz cd 60 came in last evening. How can I get better sound from cd 60, get a preamp, dac? Yes, I'm new at this.

[@ForeverAnalog]

@ronaldweed6103 I bet it sounds pretty great but if you want to add an external DAC, I have a video on my channel showing how to make that connection

[@ronaldweed6103]

You're AWESOME thx ​@@ForeverAnalog

[@ForeverAnalog]

@ronaldweed6103 you might want to spend some time with the Marantz and get an idea of the sound signature as is before adding a DAC as that might help you determine if you like having an external DAC once you add.

[@AlexanderG-mi7ip]

I actually admire anybody opening and trying to fix a CD player themselves, without being an expert. So it is quite brave of you and therefore commendable. I wouldn't dare do anything similar, even though I have two relatively new CD players. One of my deepest nightmares would be the possibility of having either of them malfunctioning, and trying to change the belt and whatnot, while being aware of the fact that even in the unplugged mode those capacitors could hit you hard with their ever present charge. So, all in all, well done...

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

FWIW ... if you unplug the device, then turn it on... that is usually enough to drain all the capacitor charges to a safe level.

[@AlexanderG-mi7ip]

@@Douglas_Blake_579 I didn't know that.

[@Douglas_Blake_579]

@@AlexanderG-mi7ip A trick of the trade...

[@markrowe8824]

I've replaced lasers and belts in a few CD player's, if you keep away from the power supply area then your pretty safe, obviously unplug the machine before opening it up.

[@mistermac56]

Great job getting the Carver CD player working properly again. I heard you mention in the video that you have a vintage store in Murfreesboro, and as I live in Gallatin TN, that grabbed my attention! So I have watched some of your videos and decided to follow your channel!

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thank you! Yes I have a vintage booth in Four Sisters Antiques in Murfreesboro. Thanks for watching!

[@trooperj9152]

Wow... I'd not heard of Carver for years! Forgot about these.

[@alanmaier]

I have the original Carver CD player. It came from an estate auction along with other items including a Carver MXR150 receiver. Mine needed 2 belts, one for the drawer and one for the laser. I got the remote too. It's a nostalgia item for me.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome! Thanks for watching!

[@marcparsons1726]

Have an Onkyo Integra CD player just needed a little weight to counter a worn spring. 30 bucks. Completes a full Onkyo rack (506rs) great finds out there!

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome! It feels so great to get these running again. Thanks for sharing!

[@christopherkibler511]

Nice buy (and repair). I like Bob Carver designs. I see a service manual and owners manual for the TL-3100. Thanks, Chris

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome, thank you!

[@moviejunkiejohn]

Good on repairing this! I’ve been buying a lot of cds and couldn’t decide on whether or not to get a new cd player, a vintage one, or just use something I had. So I basically took my extra Sony x700 4k player and hooked it up via digital coax to my onkyo receiver and it works great! No digital display but I saved myself money luckily.

[@ForeverAnalog]

I did that for years as well!

[@markrowe8824]

"The Digital Time Lens circuit adjusts the frequency response to reduce the excess high frequencies. Then it adds just a touch more of the difference between the left and right channels, subtly increasing the stereo effect. Sometimes this enhances the depth of the stereo image. This meddling results in a more 'analog' sound."

[@ForeverAnalog]

Ahhhh...That explains why I felt like it was less harsh with the button engaged. Thanks for sharing!

[@1970borntorun]

Right. So, Bob did some screwy things with the frequency response to muddy up the signal and warm over the detail of the music, to make it more "Analog-Like". It's no wonder most Audiophiles and High-End Audio Salesmen didn't respect Bob Carver back in the 90s. lol

[@kurtschieding3045]

Nice Video! I have had a couple Carver CD players and made the exact same repair. The DTL feature can make some CD's sound better, especially CD's that were produced in the early days of CD's. You can actually buy a separate Carver unit that only does only the DTL processing, thereby allowing you to use a different CD transport. The Carver CD players were generally made by other manufacturers and rebadged as Carver units.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome thanks for watching and sharing!

[@tmdillon1969]

As a 55-year-old Gen Xer, I just find it so amazing how poorly they delivered the CD listening experience back in the day. The utter crap-level DACs in even higher-end players meant we never got close to what digital can actually offer. I have a Marantz player that was $400 in 1995 and it gets absolutely destroyed by a $59 Walmart Blu-ray player used as a transport for Schitt Modi 3. For a little more than $200 in 2024 money I have sonically far superior option to what would be $825 adjusted.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Yeah, this is why I think people who assume CDs sound "bad" today are recalling the older technology and haven't given them a proper chance with updated tech that can help out a lot!

[@saiprasad8078]

Which marantz model do you have?

[@tmdillon1969]

@@saiprasad8078 I can't recall right now. I ended up giving it to my son.

[@tomkidder8863]

That door on the tray seems like it slams a little deep try backing that top gear off a tooth or two and see if that quiet the sound of that tray moving in and out

[@ForeverAnalog]

Will do, thanks!

[@Northerncalwolf]

I worked at Carver in Lynnwood back in 1992. Fascinating place.

[@ForeverAnalog]

That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing and watching!

[@onsenkuma1979]

Great find. Get the greaseprints off of the faceplate and that thing'll look minty. I've never owned a Carver CD player but I did have both the 'outboard' Digtal Time Lens DTL and the C-9 Sonic Hologram Generator processors back in the '80s, as well as a dbx 3bx III Dynamic Range Expander. I never was a 'straight wire with gain' type of listener, and loved signal processors. Anyway, not all early CDs were harsh, but the DTL did bring some warmth and life to sterile sounding discs. BTW a 'L-R' wiring configuration (aka Hafler circuit) to a rear set of speakers will draw the music out into the room from the left and right mains and add a lot of depth/ambience to a regular stereo set-up. This was pretty much my sound set-up until DSP became available.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing and watching!

[@GlennBerrySQL]

According to the October 1989 "Annual Equipment Directory" issue of Audio magazine (on page 185), the Carver DTL-3100 had an MSRP of $349.95. It was released in 1989. Carver gear is in some demand now, and it was definitely worth fixing regardless of whether it is valuable or not.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thank you so much for sharing that info and watching!

[@2ndHandMediaMan]

Ive commented on a few of your videos. I just started my youtube channel about reselling disc media on ebay for ~$100K. I like to find the old Crown, Olson, Carver, Dodd, Marantz, Nakamichi, wood grain equipment.

[@twofromthetrunk9932]

Glad it all worked out fir you.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thank you and thanks for watching!

[@philipw7058]

Carver my first venture into audio was great stuff back in the day

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome. Thanks for watching and for sharing!

[@jeffatchison8784]

Can you add the piece of video that shows the actual removal of the top gear and the installation of the belt?

[@FountainHillsHiFi]

Nice score... Have picked up several Carver units lately... But still looking for the cd player...

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thanks for watching and best of luck in your search!

[@Ian-wh8ut]

Cool video!was that the real Bob Carver in the picture?just curious. and i liked the hat.

[@ForeverAnalog]

I do believe it was - it from a post by Amir on ASR!

[@maynard5492]

When I but something that doesn't work and can't be returned. Always remember that 20 buck's we spent went to a family in need.

[@AndrewStein1]

Oh, yes, FYI, and for anyone wondering what happened to the "DTL" feature in later Carver CD players, they renamed the feature "Soft EQ" on later models. Engages with a button, just like the DTL circuit, and presumably, the function improves with later iterations like on the Carver SD/A 490t tube-based CD player released in the early 90's.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Very interesting, thank you for sharing!

[@beccachannel1083]

I have a neat Carver receiver of the same vintage. It works fine. It needs some knobs though.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome find!

[@rabit818]

Had an ADC from the 80s. It’s got a lock/unlock switch in the bottom of the case

[@ForeverAnalog]

Nice! Thanks for watching!

[@beccachannel1083]

I found a monster of a Macintosh CD player that I think needs a new lens. Can't replace that myself. May pay to do it sometime

[@ForeverAnalog]

Lens repair or replacement is way over my head, lol

[@matthewhilty4209]

The digital time lens button sounds like a crossfeed for the bass to make it more vinyl like. I have repaired 3 Cd players from Thift stores for fun. Even a NAD HDCD 20-bit one and a Sony with the old TDA1541 chip , I don't know really what to do with them, but they were fun mini projects.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome. It’s such a great feeling to repair these!

[@markrowe8824]

could probably sell the Sony for good money, the 541 chip is still highly regarded even today as one of the best sounding DACs. 🤔🤔

[@matthewhilty4209]

@@markrowe8824 I guess, but since it is a scratched lower end model with no digital out nobody wants it. I actually still have the cdp507esd from years ago with the dual TDA 1541s , when the laser dies I will take the chips and maybe make a gabster dac.

[@douglashoff95]

I fixed many a fine CD player with a simple belt replacement.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome!

[@tbonetnt33456]

Hit the display button to active time .

[@spaznetwork6982]

Nice video! What would you think of this setup to play Cd's on headphones where space is limited? NAD C 538 digital coaxial out into a Schiit Multibit then into a Schiit Magni? Thoughts? Thanks!

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thank you! I haven't used that NAD model but I love my Schiit gear enough to know it will probably be a great setup. It might be fun to find a used CD or blu-ray player that's cheap with a digital out and first try that with the Schiit gear and then upgrade later on if you feel the NAD will bring that much more to the game. It's always hard to know until you try but that's all part of the fun!

[@spaznetwork6982]

@@ForeverAnalog Yeah I have thought about this a lot actually. The thing that I am concerned about the most is the quality of the disc tray. I read it has thirty rivets or so keeping the disc tray very sturdy. I do have a Schiit setup in my workout room with speakers, cheap Sony Blu-ray player (think it was like $30 or so),Shiit Rekkr, Schiit Modi and a Magni. With this new setup I would take the Magni from the weight room and replace it with a Schiit SYS which I already have.

[@joegreer9584]

I think the DTL feature messes with phase slightly to provide a more diffuse sound.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Gotcha. Thanks for watching and sharing!

[@Ni5ei]

7:00 Anyone else shouting "PRESS THE DISPLAY BUTTON!"?

[@ForeverAnalog]

lol - definitely not my brightest moment! thanks for watching!

[@Ni5ei]

@@ForeverAnalog Ha ha 😂 Well this used to be quite common on older players before the displays got larger. There was no room to display track, index and time together.

[@bobsbits5357]

hi i talked to my mate if decks get in the shops it's a misstake alot now when they come into the shops thje worker s have them i get my hands on gear after i had gear from ebay from a seller because i payed a good price a lot leave gear behide because they just don't know what they have

[@bobsbits5357]

hi have a mate that works in a thrifted shop he said alot of the gear come from place's some one is died and all gear like this would now go to a guy and past on to ebay in the uk note i don't see gear like this any more at the car boot sales any more i used to have a channel on here i used to get offered alot of gear i still do

[@ForeverAnalog]

It's rare to find these type of players in thrifts here as well.

[@sidesup8286]

The vintage cd players to get from that time period are the Denon 1500 series. I remember reading in Stereophile & TAS how vinyl was superior to cds. Then hearing an audiophile lp versus a cd played on the Denon. The Denon sounded so much cleaner than an lp played on a turntable almost no one could afford. The Denons are not expensive on the used market. Carver was a good innovative designer, but there were other competing brands that used better parts. Don't look directly into a cd player with its top off. Stray laser light can agitate your eyes and maybe worse.

[@markrowe8824]

I picked up an black Denon DCD-1550AR from ebay for £40 (with original remote), worked great for a few months and sounded great but then refused to play any cd's, replacement laser sourced from Amazon for £5, took 30 mins to fit and player back working just fine.

[@ForeverAnalog]

I will keep my eyes peeled for a Denon player next, thanks!

[@ForeverAnalog]

Congrats - it feels so great to get something like this repaired!

[@markrowe8824]

@@ForeverAnalog yeah, although the belt was ok I'll probably treat it to a new one at some point.

[@sidesup8286]

The surprising thing is that the Denon 1500 sonically is still a viable player today, and the one I heard was back in 1987 or 1988. Probably the best selling players back then had Philips based mechanisms and circuitry. The Magnavox/Philips players often lacked low end fullness and warmth; the Magnavox players from the 400 series like the 473 had a sound that was as devoid of emotion and tone colos as anything you can think of. The later 500 series, like the 582 was not a bad player and maybe the 600 series improved upon them a bit. The most modified cd player by far back then, by both companies and DIYers was the Magnavox cdb 650. The cdb 630 with a lower model number was the top of the line (confusing to some). The 630 was a very fine player with sweet sound and extraordinary openness. Especially when professionally modified. I modify cd players and it's possible to get them to sound almost exactly like lps (without the noise).. Not on purpose either; as you do things to lessen the glare and digital distortions it just naturally veers toward that smooth lush analog sound that really draws you in. You would need one heck of an expensive phono cartridge to equal the sound quality of a really great cd player. I don't know if it's still this way, but at the lower price ranges a good $200 turntable with a cheap Audio Technica or Ortofon cartridge would sound better than a relatively cheap cd player I modify cassette players too, among other things. A cassette played on a truly great player like a good Tandberg, except for dynamics will have a sound than many people like better than lps or cd. Good tape playback scores big.for spatiality, smoothness, warmth and overall tonality. It might never quite equal cd or lp for detail and palpability, but the detail is impressive, just not AS impressive as top drawer lp and cd playback. There is a really lush and relaxing quality with tape with great continuity of sound. Even though cassette sound quality does not equal reel to reel, it is absolutely amazing the sound quality it is capable of achieving with its slow 1 and 7/8 inch speed. Most people were used to hearing a dull cassette sound from their car cassette player. Hearing a cassette on a near state of the art player or something really good can be like going from a $50 phono cartridge to a $500 one. The sound quality is there; if you can bring it out.

[@BobBeta-r9t]

Poor old Bob took a lot of flack from the writers in the high end stereo magazines like Stereophile back in the day, but despite that, he kept advertising and they took his money. That said, all the Carver products I heard were pretty good, and had good build quality compared to many of the brands that were starting to deteriorate in quality like Sony and Pioneer.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Agreed. Thanks for watching!

[@rudykraker4905]

I have a Carver tl-3200 cd player it doesn't read any of my cds

[@ForeverAnalog]

Sorry to that!

[@Ceeeje]

so, it's basically a re-branded sanyo with a "bob" button...

[@glynnetolar4423]

"which is just 16 bits" And that's all CDs have on then. Sheesh My biggest concern was it was a Sanyo chip. Not know for their quality and Carver picked it? What the heck!

[@ForeverAnalog]

lol - very true - thanks for watching!

[@dantzig65]

Audiophile?! Complete run of the mill with plastic parts all over.

[@ForeverAnalog]

lol. Maybe Bob Carver’s name is the only audiophile part 😂

[@danielfontes6629]

One thing I would have suggested was to play a CD on the machine into a computer with the appropriate software, with the Digital Time Lens on and off, so you could analyze the resultant wave-forms for change in frequency response and phase. Owing to this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4OxoIiAmN2Enrssi=wAVwlRPU_ZFiC2aT and what I was hearing in it I definitely suspect the processing does something akin to Carver's Sonic Holography which amplified the out of phase information in a stereo signal making it seem wider. I could tell because the reverb on the drums is more pronounced. There may have also been some equalization as well, but that's what I noticed right away.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Awesome, thanks for the tip!

[@stevejones8660]

Why?

[@ForeverAnalog]

Why not?

[@Ceeeje]

i would pay $20, too...

[@glynnetolar4423]

Difference in left minus right time? This sounds sketchy. But I'm the 70s and 80s there was a lot of that hi-fi vudu out there with questionable value. Then again I saw a catalog for one of those type vendors just a few years ago and that kind of thing still exists. And boy do they use some silly stuff and make some outrageous claims.

[@ForeverAnalog]

I have a fondness for the voodoo, lol.

[@johnsenuta1038]

No optical out to connnect to external DAC. No real use and I have a bunch of Carver stuff. Hard pass on this one though.

[@ForeverAnalog]

It sold pretty quick lol but some folks don’t like adding external DACs so rca outs are fine. I’m not one of those people lol. Thanks for watching!

[@briannewell6064]

Color me jealous.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Thank you for watching!

[@kentgoodall2516]

Why don't they let u plug the cd players into a power point in the store whats the big issue Then u wouldn't lose your money it's been set up in there favour Bit rough not giving your money back if it doesn't work

[@chanslorvalorum6905]

MINE !!! Free

[@jkim4712]

I would not deal with CD player from 80's. I have a Sony CD player that had been repaired two time already and they have the problem again. Old CD players not only sound bad they could break down easily. Also some of them can't be repaired because parts are not available anymore. Maybe for real bargain price maybe ok because of nostalgia we all have for vintage gear.

[@ForeverAnalog]

Great points thank you!

[@cv507]

seen a tape deck max early 80$. harlie äny! plästik vvheel äll $$. !!!