McIntosh Radios

[1 Lucky Texan]

I assume you tried more than one CD?

The only other thing I can suggest is wacky and even if it works, likely shrt term. TRy putting some pressure on the circuit board  with, maybe a piece od rubber eraser or lump of plastic. Try between mount points along each edge, then maybe near the center somewhere....if there's a cracked trace or solder joint, you may get lucky and close it up.

Edited May 12, 2021 by 1 Lucky Texan

[jonathan909]

Oh, yeah, tried a few.  Flexing the board a little in search of a cracked trace, bad solder joint, etc., would certainly be a valid approach, but...

The board is sandwiched underneath the drive and unreachable when the drive is (ribbon) cabled to the main board below.  So there's no easy way to get at it in operation.

[1 Lucky Texan]

yeah, not unexpected to be tight in there.....if you could get something in there, just do it blind, assemble and try, then pull it out and try some other spot. Not as ideal as someting with easy access and powered-up on the bench....just grasping at straws.....

[jonathan909]

(later)

It seems I got lucky.  I cleaned the lens and reseated the (three, I think) ribbon cables, it came to life on the bench, and now it's working in the car.  I'm not about to declare it "fixed" before taking a few long drives on rough roads, but at the moment I'm pretty happy.

[idosubaru]

1 hour ago, jonathan909 said:

(later)

It seems I got lucky.  I cleaned the lens and reseated the (three, I think) ribbon cables, it came to life on the bench, and now it's working in the car.  I'm not about to declare it "fixed" before taking a few long drives on rough roads, but at the moment I'm pretty happy.

Very good chance the ribbon seating could have been it.  There's clear causative correlation:

On 5/12/2021 at 7:28 AM, idosubaru said:

 I assume the additional cabin/atmospheric dust, vehicle movement/vibrations

 

Did you see anything off with ribbons or you had to remove them to diassemble or it just made sense to try it? 

Edited May 14, 2021 by idosubaru

[1 Lucky Texan]

way to stick with it!

[jonathan909]

8 minutes ago, idosubaru said:

Very good chance the ribbon seating could have been it.  There's clear causative correlation:

Did you see anything off with ribbons or you had to remove them to diassemble or it just made sense to try it? 

These are all the really flat connectorless cables; they're not wire, but are probably considered flexible circuits - I'd have to check.  The big one that mates with the main board below has a paddle attached to it for insertion/removal (you need needlenose pliers for either operation), and it had to come out to remove the CD transport, which is held in place by 6-8 screws.  Once the drive's out, flip it over and there are a couple more of the same, but smaller and with those little compression/retention clips on the PCB connectors.  I wasn't paying a lot of attention, but it makes sense that one goes to the laser and the other to the head positioning motor.  I think one of them may have been a little unseated and the lock skewed by a hair, so reseating it may have been the fix.  Makes sense that a connector like this might vibrate out a little after years of operation, though you've gotta figure that Clarion wouldn't (continue to) use them if they proved unsuitable for the application.

[jonathan909]

11 minutes ago, 1 Lucky Texan said:

way to stick with it!

Shucks, weren't nuthin'.

[jonathan909]

On 11/29/2010 at 4:29 PM, Scoobywagon said:

Despite what it says on the face, there is NOTHING McIntosh about those stereos. They are built by Clarion.

And Allpar Mod added:  "It's a real shame that something with the McIntosh name is junk. I'm in to vintage audio and McIntosh home audio units from back in the day command big bucks and are considered the Rolls Royce of audio components."

In fact, they weren't only built by Clarion, but at the time Clarion owned McIntosh, so there's no telling what kind of inter/intra-company forces led to this.  I wouldn't expect anything beyond Clarion quality in the digital portion, manufacture, etc., but I think that there's McIntosh design in the relevant audio sections.  I've worked with their trad amplifiers; they are something special.

But I tell you, in the last few days since I got this thing going again I've been playing a handful of CDs that I thought I knew very well, and I'm hearing things - very subtle effects, a bit of echo, some cymbals - that I've never heard before on a car, home, or studio (I've radio DJed for many years) system.  Let the haters hate, but I'm quite impressed by the sound.