I have an inexpensive Sony CFD-6 boombox that I want to use in the garage for tango practice. It plays CD audio well enough, but there is an annoying low-pitch scratchy/grunting sound, about one-per-revolution of the CD. After starting, one prominent startup grunt noise is followed by grunt-grunt-grunt, etc. sound, like a low-freq vibration is causing the laser to shake and generate each sound, vibrato-like, increasing in frequency as though coming from the CD motor mechanism.
I suspect the laser is mounted on its wire leads, and if touched with a pencil tip (carefully) it does shake at a low rate, just like the noises. Voila.
The sound remains after turning the volume control to zero, and the level does not change with the colume control. Could this be a power supply problem?
I am new to CD lore, and might suspect that these lasers are mounted in a foam ring to eliminate this shaking; might this be true? I also think the laser motor is controlled by a servo system and magically seeks the recorded track automatically (true?)
If so, a narrow slice of foam might be wrapped around the laser lens to stabilize it; I tried this, no luck, CD was not recognized. It is likely that the laser is pushed out of some magic position, and cannot find the start track position. I tried to coax the laser into different postions, no luck.
Yeah, I know I can buy a new one (probably much better) for less than a trip to the service shop, but I have a non-treatable disease (true?) that compels me to fix it instead.
