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The CD Player has two faults, the 1st started about 6 months back which i can live with (but i would like to be fixed at the same time)
That is the CD try opens and immediately closes again, so you have to be very quick changing disc's
While I can't be sure, it sounds like a problem with the remote or the OPEN switch. Likely you are pushing the Open/Close Button once and it is seeing two consecutive pressed, one for open and the next for close.
Whether this is dirt and a problem with the switch or with the electronics reading the switch is hard to say.
The 2nd one is far more serious which has started in the past week.
When you put a new disc in (or power up with one already in it) the player struggles to read the disc, eventually it does so you can press play, then after 2 to 10 seconds the player stops and it starts to read the disc again (again struggling) and the whole cyclical repeats. This is happening with any disc i put in.
This indeed sounds more serious. Obviously the CD Player is having trouble reading the CD and that whether CD, DVD, or BluRay is typically an indication that it is time for a new player.
If we assume the fault is with the Read Laser, that can be replaced, assuming you can get one. Or, the Laser could simply need to be cleaned, though it would have to be pretty dirty to have a problem reading.
Then if we assume the Laser is OK, that leaves a problem associated with the electronics.
Usually though, when you start having problems like you describe, it is a bad sign.
As to the amount i would be prepared to spend a lot comes down to who fixes it, if its Richer Sounds then a max of a £100 or so, Arcam who use to when repairing faults strip the item completely down and test/service everything £200 to £300 as in effect i get a new player back. More than that and its hard to justify.
My fear is that the circuit board has gone which would push it towards the upper limit
That sounds about right. But remember, though not Arcam quality, you would have no problem buying a consumer grade CD Player in the £200 to £300 range.
Yamaha CDS300 CD Player - Superfi
Denon DCD720AE CD Player - Superfi
Marantz CD6005 CD Player - Superfi
Yamaha CDS700 CD Player - Superfi
Pioneer PD50 CD/SACD Player with DAC - Superfi
Marantz CD6006 CD Player - Superfi
It is down to how much you actually use the CD Player.
For roughly £500, you can get a
Network Streamer which would allow you to Rip all your CDs to FLAC files and access them on your Computer Network. Since this is all electronic with no mechanical parts, it should suffer very little wear and tear.
If you can spend upwards of £1000, you can get the
Bluesound VAULT-2 which has a CD reader built in as well as 2Tb of storage. That would allow you to store thousands of CD, and make the reading/storing of the CD very fast and easy.
Network Storage is nice because it gives multiple users access to the music. In fact anyone in the house with a Computer, Smart Phone, Tablet, or Pad can individually access that music in a high quality format.
With so many young people having their music in only non-physical formats, and as much as I personally resist it, likely Network Streaming of Audio is indeed the wave of the future.
And if you have kids, they are a lot less likely to scratch a FLAC file than an actual CD.
It is really just a question of how far you want to take it.
Steve/Bluewiizard