# I need my laser realigned--car stereo **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2002, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-my-laser-realigned-car-stereo/111583 "2002-05-30T18:06:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dudes\_a\_plenty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dudes\_a\_plenty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dudes_a_plenty)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-my-laser-realigned-car-stereo/111583/1 "2002-05-30T18:06:35Z")
I just found out I need my laser realigned on my CD player in my car. If I went to an electronics place, how much would they charge? I was told about $70. Please help me! I’d like ideas on how much this will cost me. Thanks!!! ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-my-laser-realigned-car-stereo/111583/2 "2002-05-30T19:31:55Z")
That sounds about right. When I was doing optical alignments about two years ago, we charged either $59 or $69 for consumer grade stuff, and about twice that for professional grade (like studio quality laserdisc players/recorders). Have you requested a cleaning to see if that helps a skipping problem? Lasers should not need to be aligned until at least 2-4 years after purchase, unless it’s a cheesy brand in which case they’re sometimes out of alignment right off the assembly line. There were many cases where I could have screwed the customer out of $70 for an alignment when only a cleaning was needed. There was great incentive for me to do this because it was a commission based job. 20 “repairs” of this nature would easily gross me $300 a day. Of course I never did that for fear of being stung by 20/20 or some other consumer watchdog group. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-my-laser-realigned-car-stereo/111583/3 "2002-05-30T19:40:49Z")
Umm, who told you this and what sort of expertise do they have? There are a lot of idiots out there full of a lot of “facts” that are total nonsense. I doubt someone could tell you that it needs realignment without taking it apart. Some things that cause various play problems _other_ than realignment are dirty lens, sticky laser transport, bad motor and on and on. You can’t tell what causes it without getting inside and testing it. I had a player with a problem that required replacing an IC chip to fix. Adjusting the pots didn’t do a thing. It is not so straightforward. Go to [http://www.repairfaq.org](http://www.repairfaq.org) and check out the CD player/CDROM section. Sam is _great_. Also, do a search on Google’s Usenet archives on your model #. Usually a given model has certain preferred ways to fail. (I have actually done adjustments on CD players, but I had the know how and docs to go with it.) ---
**Author:** ![dudes\_a\_plenty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dudes\_a\_plenty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dudes_a_plenty)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-my-laser-realigned-car-stereo/111583/4 "2002-06-01T04:44:33Z")
Thanks you guys. I really appreciate it. It really helps. I’m gonna check out the website you mentioned and check out google too. Thanks again for the great info!!