Which CDs??

[matt1710]

Hi

I'm having real problems getting my McIntosh HU to play burnt CDs. I've tried two different types of CD-R (both Verbatim, which I think is a good brand) and it's really random as to whether it plays them or not. It either just starts playing them - or displays "disc error" or sometimes even "focus error" part way through playing. I've even tried burning on two different computers (one an iMac, the other a PC) and it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Is there something I'm missing here?? Like, do HUs generally only like CD+Rs or something? Or is my HU just poked....

Matt

[Joker]

give up

[Guest]

yea, as said in another tread, i had alsorts of problems with mine not reading copied CD's.

think it may just be the head units are not set up to read copied cds possibly

-smurff

[Joker]

older (OEM) head units never did

[Guest]

yea, thats why i changed mine in the end. also my mini disks never worked in the unit either, talk about frustrating hahaha

-smurff

[Joker]

wow MD's they were cool in the 90's!

i never actually used one meself

[Guest]

hahaha, it was so mint when i got mine back in the day, they were spose to be the next big thing hahaha... fail

-smurff

[Guest keltik]

Mine reads burned cd's just fine. My stacker reads them even better. On cold mornings tho i have to insert any disc about 10 times before it reads. I use Verbatim discs and they are friggin awesome. Burned on a medium speed of about 24x they read in everything ive ever tried.

[matt1710]

Strange eh! Hopefully, if i get the stacker wired up, it'll be better than the HU which is not flash. I've noticed problems with the unit on cold mornings too. Currently, the HU is randomly failing to provide any audio (even if showing that it's tuned to a pre-set station) for about the first 10 mins of driving, then all of a sudden it audio comes out. Maybe an amp - HU connection problem??

Maybe I'll slow down the burn speed - I've already tried giving it more gap between songs (up to 5s) however that doesn't seem to help. It's almost like it doesn't even recognize that there's a cd in there, as when I push eject, it often does nothing - until I push it a few times. Plays commercial cds no problem though.

[Guest]

 JoKer said:

older (OEM) head units never did

Did yours not play burned discs?

Odd mine did lol, but like OP mine would occasionally not recognise the disc...I got sick of that and changed HU

[Joker]

years ago even my original Sony Xplode would be temperamental about CD-r's (pre MP3)

and I also dont think there is such thing as a CD+r?

[Guest keltik]

CD+R's do exist, just kinda rare now.

My Kenwood CD player in the honda loves recordable discs. And that was made before computers had burners!

[Guest]

I just thought, thanks to Joker's comment about Pre-mp3 lol

Are you burning the discs in MP3 format? If so this maybe why your HU isn't able to read it...

Unless these units are able to play MP3 format...

Could someone confirm

[Guest keltik]

They definately cannot play MP3 and cant display CD text info either...unless your playing a minidisc

[newsuba]

 JoKer said:

wow MD's they were cool in the 90's!

i never actually used one meself

Too bad they sounded like crap... compressed to buggery.

MD HD is much better but not worth the bother with solid state storage now so easily available.

Sounds like Matt's HU was not designed for CDR playback so either;

A. Stop playing burnt discs

B. Buy a new HU with full CDR compatibilty.

[matt1710]

No, just burning in audio format. Have tried different 'between song' gap, different CDs, different burners...still seems random as to whether it will play or not. Sometimes it starts playing, then a few tracks in - often between tracks - stops. Almost as if the HU can't decipher the data that tells it where to start playing. Sometimes it'll play a disc, and then 30 minutes later (after restarting the car, for example) it won't read it. It's bizarre. I would replace it however would rather keep the same appearance in the dash. Hopefully the stacker will be 'kinder' towards burnt CDs... Also, buying a new HU requires re-wiring the whole car to bypass the amp - so I'm told. Sounds like a mission to me!

[Guest]

ur afraid of things that may be hard work

again its not a hard thing to do, could just run 4 twin speaker cables from the head unit, to where the amp is located, remove the amp, and wire into the speaker out cables.

-smurff

[Joker]

I found "warm" cds played better - no shit! straight after burning they were fine

and/or better results in summer!

[Guest keltik]

Sounds like your burning them at too high a speed. In my moms old volvo it would read only a specific brand of disc at a certain speed. Anything else and it would do exactly what your describing. Could be worth trying to clean the lens

[matt1710]

Might try a super slow burn then. I have a special CD lens cleaner disc with copper brushes that I've used a few times - didn't seem to help.

[kamineko]

old lasers tend to get lazy with focus.. the coil/lens supports become stretched with age and the alignment goes out of spec. hence why tired playstation 1's would sometimes work sideways - gravity would pull the coil back into spec

also the laser diode or driver can fail. game over in that case

defiantly try a cleaning cd and burning music on a good quality cd-r at low speed (4x) before giving up. do pressed (original) cd's work ok?

[matt1710]

The slow burn I did the other day (4x) works well - most of the time. Pressed CDs always work. Thanks for the helpful advice.

[newsuba]

 matt1710 said:

Might try a super slow burn then. I have a special CD lens cleaner disc with copper brushes that I've used a few times - didn't seem to help.

Jesus H Christ

DO NOT use lens cleaners that contact the laser.

One of the easiest ways to totally @#$! it up.