legacycentral bbs

This only happens sometimes and it is really really strange. When I am driving, with a/c on, and listening to a cd, occasionally my car will decide that it wants to be weird. Doesn't always happen. When I get above 3K RPMs only in 1st and 2nd gear the CD stops. It still displays the time and everything stays lit, it just stops, kinda like it is skipping. Doesn't do it all the time nor does it do it in 3rd or 4th. Seems to happen in 2nd the most. The first time the headlights were also on and the last time they were not. I tried to recreate for my girlfriend when we were out tonight with no avail. All I can think of is maybe alternator or cd player is feeling 194K miles old or the motor mounts and tranny mounts are trashed and are vibrating enough to cause it to skip (doesn't feel like it vibrating much to me but maybe)

sounds like an electrical gremlin.

Check all your connections for ground/alternator. Also check the voltage at the input of the stereo. If you have low voltage, the cd player motor inside may not have enough juice to spin the cd fast enough.

THanks Josh. I'll check it out when I get the time. It's still the stock stereo and I listen to about half cds and half radio and it only does it about 10% of the time and only cuts out for about 2-3 seconds. Just thought it was weird. Did you move. I thought you were out on the West Coast and now your location says Houston?

Well.....I've sorta moved all over the place. Haven't moved in over a year. I will be moving in August, but it will be just a local move in Houston.

I haven't lived on the west coast for a while now. You never know though, I could end up wherever. Job is the only thing keeping me in Houston.

The older cd players get the harder the little shock absorbers get in there, so they become less able to resist shock. you probably have a vibration at that particular spot in that gear that you may not be able to notice but is enough to mistrack the laser for a few seconds.

Just a possibility

Mike

Thanks magicmike!

I've been wondering why I go through aftermarket CD players every three or four years. Even took one out to have it repaired twice and it would work fine on the bench for hours, but as soon as you put it back in and moved the car...

Anyway, aging shock absorbers makes perfect sense.
A mystery has been solved well enough for my benefit.

Steve

I'd recommend a nice Panasonic (typically around $300+). I'd get completely airborn in my Brat and upon landing the cd player would not skip one bit. I've had it about 5-6 years now. People have been in the Brat when I've done this (there happens to be a perfect road to launch it near my house....) and it impressed the snake out of them. I've had nothing but good experiences with them.

Cool.

I've eaten a Pioneer and a JVC and I'm into the fourth year of a Kenwood which occassionally shows signs of slipping, but still seems OK. I use my stereo all the time unless I'm following an exotic (nothing beats an Italian V12 soundtrack).

Steve

Oh yeah, what year BRAT do you have? Old school pushrods, that's what I'm talking about!

Steve

I've had a Kenwood HU for roughly 6 years and it's been wonderful. I also have a Panasonic that has been kicking for close to 5 years. I have no complaints about either of those. Actually, I've never had a stereo component completely fail yet. (knock on wood)

-Brian

I was going to say the same as magicmike.

I bet the condition requires a very specific engine load that hits resonance with some part of the cd player.

Just FYI, pretty much any new cd player should not skip, most of them come with a 10 second buffer which elimates all skipping (ESP, electronic shock protection). The way it works is that 10 seconds ahead of what your hearing is actually being recorded on a little chip. This happens the whole time. As soon as the laser mistracks the cd player knows it and plugs in from memory the missing info. Pretty cool huh? The only way you can make it skip is if you are going down a very very bumpy road and you use up all of the 10 second buffer. (more than 10 seconds of mistracking,,, ish) Very expensive high fidelity cd players dont have this option because it diminishes sound quality. If you like I can get into why it does when I have more time. Just let me know

Mike

I've noticed on the alpine head units I have certain large bumps will upset them, but then others won't.

It really depends on the bump/pot hole, etc.

I had an old alpine I got back in 96. It still worked, I had some work done on it in 2000 I think. I picked up one that was only a couple years old since it had higher voltage rca outputs and a couple other features. Funny thing is both seem to act the same over the same bumps. May just be an alpine thing, or their buffer length may not be as much.

I still need to re-tune my system. It really doesn't sound anywhere as good as it did......

magicmike: Problem is that alot of lower cost units use low quality buffering into memory. The difference between buffered and "play as read" is very dramatic (when you have the option to disable it). It doesnt make sense, memory is so cheap these days they should be able to include minutes worth of buffer at full quality for little cost.