Denon DCM-350 for 2 bucks!! (1 Viewer)

[JohanD]

Went to a yard sale today... saw a 5 disc changer.. it said 4 bucks on it.. the outside looked decent shape.. so I asked them if it worked..

The lady said well.. it works but it skips.. so I offered here 2 bucks and she let me have it..

It is a denon DCM-350 5 disc cd-changer.. I hooked it up and it sounds fine! Listened to several tracks and not one skip or hiccup! When I opened it.. there were some cd-r's in there.. so maybe they played some bad burns in there and thought it was broken

Anyone know if this model is any good? Can't be too bad for 2 bucks and in working order!

Well an update on the player, it sounds FABULOUS when it works correctly and the coaxial ditial out is a plus. It does seem to skip on some CD's more than others. Some CD's play all the way through w/o a skip. Does not seem to be cd-r related. Some store bought CD's skip. It's wierd too. A newer CD will play fine and an older one will skip. Get another set of CD's and maybe the older one plays fine while the new one skips. Skipping varies. Sometimes it will play through the whole track with maybe a hiccup or two. Some CD's will play all tracks fine but maybe the first track will refuse to play.

Maybe it needs to be cleaned?? Any reccomendations on how to clean this thing? The top is very easy to take off.

 

[Craig Robertson]

it's a good player, great for the (retail) price, a downright steal for what you paid.

 

[JohanD]

Anyone know where I can get the manual online? If it is available that is. I was not able to find any specifications on it.. (other than what it says on the unit)

 

[KeithH]

Johan, Denon makes a good CD changer, and anything that works is a great deal at $2. As for the manual, I don't believe Denon offers downloads. Sorry.

 

[Sathyan]

the manual for the current version of that product line (should be close enough)

http://www.usa.denon.com/catalog/pdf...80_280 DFU.pdf

 

[Mike OConnell]

I will offer you $10, plus shipping for the unit. That would be a 500% return on your investment .

Mike

 

[JohanD]

Thanks for the link... strange denon doesn't have the DCM-350 listed on there.. even if without a manual..

I do believe the manuf. date is December 1990..

 

[Kimo Bonnelycke]

Wow, fantastic price. Keep an eye on that skip though, as it maybe something else. I picked up an old Sony DA9ES 5Disk CD player a while ago from a pawn shop, and it seemed fine for a couple of weeks until an interesting problem showed up. Music would play fine (through optical output), and during the song, the sound would just cut out. Normally I was not in the same room, so it took a while before I could see the pause while standing in front of the unit. It seems like my player would stop in a song, go back about 3 - 4 seconds, and resume play.... Very, very random. It had done it on every type of disk used, new or old. I had it checked out by a shop, and they cleaned it, but that did not fix the issue. The shop's owner, now dedicated with a new passion , worked for months trying to figure it out (at no cost to me )... He finally replaced the laser (at cost), and he thought he fixed it. Unfort. 2 days later it started again. I have no idea what it is, and just live with it.... hint, hint, if anybody has any ideas, I am still interested.

Kimo B.

 

[JohanD]

I will offer you $10, plus shipping for the unit. That would be a 500% return on your investment

Thanks for the offer Mike O'Connell, but for now I will have to pass.. should be getting my receiver soon so want to see how it sounds on that first..

(I tested it out by plugging it into the aux on my TV.. not so good of built-in speakers)

I'm a Home Theatre newbie.. but I have been into car audio for a few years as well as audio on my PC.. I'm no first timer to DIY in general.. I enjoy to build things

 

[JohanD]

Wow, fantastic price. Keep an eye on that skip though, as it maybe something else. I picked up an old Sony DA9ES 5Disk CD player a while ago from a pawn shop, and it seemed fine for a couple of weeks until an interesting problem showed up. Music would play fine (through optical output), and during the song, the sound would just cut out. Normally I was not in the same room, so it took a while before I could see the pause while standing in front of the unit. It seems like my player would stop in a song, go back about 3 - 4 seconds, and resume play.... Very, very random. It had done it on every type of disk used, new or old. I had it checked out by a shop, and they cleaned it, but that did not fix the issue. The shop's owner, now dedicated with a new passion , worked for months trying to figure it out (at no cost to me )... He finally replaced the laser (at cost), and he thought he fixed it. Unfort. 2 days later it started again. I have no idea what it is, and just live with it.... hint, hint, if anybody has any ideas, I am still interested.

I definatly will keep an eye on it.. I played at least about 5+ tracks while I was right there in front of it.. and then just left it playing while I was out of the room.. the buttons are real responsive, the display is accurate.. so far no skips.. i'll keep my fingers crossed..

even if it does have a problem i'm not out much money..

 

[MikeNagy]

Older CD players will skip easily if you try playing CD-R's in them that are burned at too high of speeds. If you want to play CD-R's, I recommend you start slow and try burning successive CD's at higher and higher speeds until the Denon starts skipping. Then you will have found your speed ceiling. If it does skip, it will start around the outer edge of the disc.

Cheers and good luck! [tries to conceal jealousy ]

 

[JohanD]

Usually I always burn audio CD's at 1x regardless of what the target device is.

Well an update on the player, it sounds FABULOUS when it works correctly and the coaxial ditial out is a plus. It does seem to skip on some CD's more than others. Some CD's play all the way through w/o a skip. Does not seem to be cd-r related. Some store bought CD's skip. It's wierd too. A newer CD will play fine and an older one will skip. Get another set of CD's and maybe the older one plays fine while the new one skips. Skipping varies. Sometimes it will play through the whole track with maybe a hiccup or two. Some CD's will play all tracks fine but maybe the first track will refuse to play.

Maybe it needs to be cleaned?? Any reccomendations on how to clean this thing? The top is very easy to take off.

 

[Jim Rakowiecki]

Johan, I have had a Denon DCM 420 for going on 13 years and it has performed beautifully since it was new. It sounds great and the changer mechanism has been solid although I sometimes wonder if it isn't slowing down just a bit in it's old age.
How could you go wrong for $2.00? It will cost you more to put batteries in the remote. If the skipping problem doesn't materialize then it should be a nice compliment to your anticipated HT system.

 

[JohanD]

anyone know any good cleaning tips for a cd-changer?

 

[Bill Will]

Sounds like you already got your money out of it. Lets see, blank number of songs played divided by $2.00 = well you see where I'm going

 

[JohanD]

Yes you are right Bill. I was just hoping I could do something about it..

 

[JeremySt]

Go to a camera store. Buy a can of compressed air, and photographic lens cleaner. clean the reading lens with a light application on a q-tip. Get all the dust out with the compressed air.

 

[JohanD]

Couldn't really get the the lens very easy.. took off the top cover.. and to get to the lens would have had to take off some internal components. Rather than disturb things.. I gave it several blasts of compressed air from different angles. So far not a single skip, but I'm not sure if I have tried any "problem" CD's yet..

have it hooked to a panasonic XR25 right now via digital coax.. sounds great..