Just finished a complete capacitor replacement in my CD5500. Listening to the sound that this unit now produces makes the time, money and effort spent on it very worth while. However, what really makes me raise my eyebrows is the fact that this unit will now read CDRWs! A fact that has been mentioned before in the forums, but I can now confirm this first hand myself. What I dont quite understand is that my Beocenter 9500 (which has had a full recap and has much the same servo board) does not read CDRWs. Any ideas?

 

Hello,

Well I can certainly read CR-RWs with my Beogram 3300 which is even older! My CDX can only just do it if I quickly skip to track two!

My 25 Year old Beogram CD50 also reads CDRW's with no problems

All of my Beogram CD players will read CDR's  except one. The one that doesnt is a Beogram CD3300 and it has had a full recap plus some other work done. What it hasnt had done is the laser focus voltage checked.

It has to do with tolerances of the laser itself, and the focus/current adjustment.

It is possible to adjust the laser current to a lower level, yes, CD-RW need a lower laser current than standard CD and CD-R's. CD-RW has a higher reflection than standard CD's.

So it would be pretty easy to adjust the laser... BUT: it is not sure, that all other CD can be read oder will work. The design of the board is not planned to correct the laser current in this wide range.

The adjustment for a CD7000 laser is 50mV during Test Mode. In standard mode it is 38-42mV reading a standard CD. And it would be around 28-34mV reading a CD-RW.

I always adjust the laser current to the lower current tolerance. It extends lifetime of the laser, but even then there is no 100% guaranty that it will read also RW. It is always a compromise...

Die_Bogener:

It has to do with tolerances of the laser itself, and the focus/current adjustment.

It is possible to adjust the laser current to a lower level, yes, CD-RW need a lower laser current than standard CD and CD-R's. CD-RW has a higher reflection than standard CD's.

So it would be pretty easy to adjust the laser... BUT: it is not sure, that all other CD can be read oder will work. The design of the board is not planned to correct the laser current in this wide range.

The adjustment for a CD7000 laser is 50mV during Test Mode. In standard mode it is 38-42mV reading a standard CD. And it would be around 28-34mV reading a CD-RW.

I always adjust the laser current to the lower current tolerance. It extends lifetime of the laser, but even then there is no 100% guaranty that it will read also RW. It is always a compromise...

 

So what would be the standard adjustment for a CD 3300?   There is no service manual just electrical diagrams on site. Isnt the laser pickup and servo is different than a CD 7000.

I am not even completly sure how to just simply maeasure the current. The only clues I have found so far is the instuctions for the CD5500 which does use the same pickup & sevo (I think) and a PDF I was given for a Phillips CBD650.

I have more less enough CD series from CD50, CD5500, CD3300, CD4500, BC9000, BC8500, Overture etc. Never had any problems with reading CDRs BUT for the reason that I always burned them on a 1x or 2x (Maximum) speed. I think that you can give it a try this way and most probably you will be successful.

The CDX2 manual is on and that covers the CD3300.

Peter :

The CDX2 manual is on and that covers the CD3300.

The manual is incomplete - not much use at all.