I have a little JVC sound system in my kitchen. Over the past few months, it has begun to express opinions on the sorts of CDs I put into it.
Some things it won’t acknowledge. I put in the Jerry Garcia/David Grisman/Tony Rice PIZZA TAPES, and it pretends not to have a CD in it at all.
Other things it admits are inside it, but it just won’t play them. It completely refuses to play anything by the Young Fresh Fellows. Doesn’t seem to like the Moonglows, either. The discs just whirl around in there without anything getting any purchase on them.
Johnny Horton is fine. The Comedian Harmonists are fine. Richard Wagner played by a string qurtet plus accordion is fine. The Kinks are fine. Dizzy Gillespie needs a little nudging, but is eventually fine.
If the top of the disc is mostly shiny silver, it has a better chance of playing than those with a lot of print or color. I think PIZZA TAPES is a washout because the top is printed to look like a pizza.
Anyone else have this problem? Is my laser growing old? Should I give it a good slap upside the head to show it who’s boss?
Sounds to me like your optical pickup is dying–the lasers gradually fade out on them. You might buy it a little time by using some compressed air (a la keyboard cleaner) to blow dust off the lens. Failing that, take it to a shop to get the pickup replaced. Last I checked, JVC pickups went for about $30-$45, with labor charges varying from shop to shop. Replacing it is about an hour’s worth of work with most units.
You didn’t know I was tech savvy, huh, Uke? Let’s just say I took a class on ELIMINATING JERRY GARCIA.
heh heh heh
Should you decide to buy a new one, skip JVC. They’re crap. Skip Sony too. They have the worst breakdown rates of them all.
I read your conundrum a few times, Uke, and I think what strikes me most is that you’re listening to Johnny Horton. Do you just wake up and think, “I really need to hear North to Alaska”? 
<blush> My ten-year-old and my four-year-old are both inordinately fond of “The Battle of New Orleans.” Up till a couple weeks ago, the only recording of it I had was a Cajun version by Zachary Richards. In the interest of cultural history, I felt I should buy a Horton greatest hits collection.
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OKAY, I ADMIT IT! Late at night, when everyone’s asleep, I sneak upstairs and dance around the kitchen to “Sink the Bismarck” !!!
“Iiiin 1814 we took a little trip…”
Coldfire, what’s your beef with JVC? I’d rank them as #2 for CD players. #1 is Pioneer–those things last forever, as far as I can tell. OTOH, I agree with you about Sony; Uke, if I hear you’ve bought a Sony CD player, I will be forced to track you down and break it over your head. Nothing personal.
Before getting a new one you should give it a real stress test and throw in some Ace of Base.
Ah, crap. No Sony? That would explain why this CD alarm clock I paid $90 for wakes me up with the buzz from the speakers a few seconds before the CD ever starts playing.
Balance,
My opinion is a mixture of quality of sound and build quality. Granted, an average JVC will outlast an average Sony. But it still sounds bad!
Then again, that might not matter too much for a kitchen set, I realise that. But man, don’t get a purist talking about his HiFi!
I have a Sony car CD player (came with the car), a Technics portable (good sound, skips a lot), and a Rotel CD Player in the living room. Rotel uses Philips laser optics (the most durable), but better wiring then Philips. Best thing since the wheel. Honestly.
Well, my kitchen set probably gets as much play as the serious stereo in the living room. I spend a lot of time cooking, plus it’s needed to drown out whatever the kids happen to be watching on television in there (Stan Kenton effectively trumps Scooby Doo). Also, the deck outside the kitchen is my smoking area…
The guy who owned my place previously had stereo speakers installed in the kitchen walls, so I detach the system’s speakers and hook the brain center up to the wires dangling down behind the fridge. In this situation, is Pioneer the best option for me? Coldfire? Balance?
Coldfire, I’ve found that most sound-quality problems are in the amplifier or speakers. Unless you get an unusually crappy CD player, there just isn’t much difference in what they put out. I’m pretty fanatical about my music–I notice nitpicking things that my friends never dream are in the songs–but I’ve never had any objection to JVC’s CD players. Pioneer is still better, though.
Sound quality discussions are probably moot for a kitchen unit anyway…
Balance: you’re absolutely right, the amp and the speakers matter even more. But a CD player CAN sound better than another one. Well, “different” might be a better word. And honestly, it is sometimes so subtle that a debate about it would be futile.
Uke: a Pioneer CD player is fine, I’d say. What sort of speakers are mounted in the wall? For the sound quality, it is best when speakers aren’t built into something, but have some “breathing room” around them, even to the back.
Coldy: The speakers are Sharp. They’re set into the wallpaper-and-plaster-and-lathe (this is Brooklyn, not Amsterdam…my kitchen walls are not roughhewn from the living rock), so there’s plenty of breathing room around them.
I’m not all that familiar with Sharp, never having chosen their components voluntarily, but these babies seem to do the job. Just after I moved in, I tested them out with one of Bruckner’s symphonies, and the force of the lower brass nearly sent me flying out the garden window.
Sorry to hijack your thread further, but Lux, I just wanted to say how much that sig line cracked me up. I miss NewsRadio. And that was a really good episode.
Back to whatever the hell we were talking about before.
Uke:
With speakers, durability isn’t a real issue (i.e. they usually only break down if you drop them 3 floors or if you overpower them with your amp). The sound they produce is a pure matter of taste: if you like these Sharp speakers, ask the store clerk to hook your potential CD player up with those exact speakers, if possible. IF you’re buying another mini set (which might be likely because of space issues), bear in mind that poor quality (Sony etc., or worse, those cheap-ass Asian brands as Sanyo, SuperTech and whatnot) might result in high repair costs: separate components are cheaper to repair, since mini sets have all the electronics crammed into a tiny space. A disaster to even change a simple laser element.