Denon DCD-625 CD player - Intermittent skipping

[iklesteve]

Hey all,

I've got a 4 year old Denon DCD-625 player that worked fine until it suddenly developed a problem. During playback of any CD (Commercial CDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs) it intermittently skips around the disk. This varies from a very slight drop-out (sounds a bit like a loose connection) to skipping entire tracks and across the disk. The time display stays "synched" with the disk (ie jumps around as well) and can be forwards as well as backwards.

My first suspicion was a dirty lens, however two different cleaning disks do not appear to have helped at all. The skipping appears totally random, it does not always occur and is not in the same places on the disk. The disks work fine in other systems. One some days the problem is worse than others - and it can get better or worse as the disk progresses.

Was wondering if anybody has any suggestions as to what to try next? I'm happy to start poking around inside, but don't want to do more harm than good!

I'm happy to spend reasonable repair costs, but if it's a terminal problem then am happy to consider replacing it... in which case, can anyone recommend a decent unit in the sub £250 bracket?

Cheers,