'Fuzzy sounding" CD changer

[audiobliss]

My sister is complaining about her CD's suddenly sounding 'fuzzy' and having to turn the HU up higher to be able to hear anything. I've not personally heard it, but she said it's like a white noise that is the same volume level as the music. Turning up the volume doesn't make it sound clearer, but the music (and white noise) is quieter at a given volume level than before, so she has to turn it up higher to achieve the same loudness.

Her setup is in a mid-90's (I'm emberassed I can't remember what year) Camry. It's a JVC cassette deck up front hooked to a JVC CD changer in the trunk (6 disc, I beleive). She got this installed the middle of 2003, so it's not new.

She initially thought the changer assembly was dirty, but I told her that, if that were the case, it would be skipping or flat out not playing, not sounding 'fuzzy'. Is that true? I thought it could be a loose speaker wire or even a blown speaker, but she says that it sounds fine when she's playing the radio. So, I'm down to thinking it could be a loose connection from the changer to the HU. Does that sound reasonable? I'm fixing to go out and look at it and see what I can see, but I won't be able to look at the back of the HU - I'll just be able to see the connection at the changer.

If the changer were going bad, would it sound 'fuzzy' like this?

Thanks for any advice/suggestions!

audiobliss

[audiobliss]

I just went out and checked it out. The HU is a KS-FX210, and the changer is a CH-X470. The connection at the changer is just fine. It simply plugs into the side. I unplugged it and it seems to be fine. I also took out the magazine and everything looks clean enough inside.

I listened to it a bit, too. It's a lot worse than I was expecting. You can hardly hear anything, and the white noise is very pronounced. It really sounds like a blown speaker, and that's what I'd think the problem is except for the fact that they all sound like that (I played with the fade and balance) and it sounds fine when listening to the radio.

Any ideas?

[neomagus00]

well, if it's not the HU or speakers etc., and it's not the cable, it must be the changer... possibly going bad, possibly dirty... perhaps loading one of those 'cleaning' cds would help... it's less expensive than a new changer, in any case...

[Polkersince85]

Does the changer plug into the cassette using a cartridge adapter, if so, remove it and gently clean the heads on the adapter and the cassette player. then reinsert it. Deoxit or alcohol on a Qtip will work.

[audiobliss]

The changer is connected to the back of the HU, as the HU is designed to control a changer. I was not able to look at the back of the HU, so I don't know what the connection back there looks like.

Why would the laser assembly being dirty make it sound 'fuzzy'? From my perspective, being dirty would interfer with the laser reading the disc, thus preventing it from reading certain parts, not make it 'misread' the disc and sound 'fuzzy'. Is that wrong? I mean, either the laser picks up a 0 or a 1 or it doesn't read anything. There's no '1/2'.

[neomagus00]

There's no '1/2'.

tell that to the people that think cables make a difference for digital audio transmission...

and as far as being 'fuzzy', if the laser only picks up an average of every other bit, i believe that that would average out to remove 10 kHz+ frequencies... this is sorta a guess, but if your laser is lightly dirty and it's not reading properly even 1/10 times, that could easily mess up the higher frequency info... the white noise confuses me, and makes me think that this isn't the issue, but i have no other ideas...

[98thumpin]

mine isnt even hooked up yet

[audiobliss]

Like I said earlier, it sounds just like the speakers are all blown. You have to really turn it up to get any appreciable volume out of them, and their 'fuzziness' and the 'white noise' sound just like the old Sony bookshelf speakers I used to have sounded when I blew them. It's more of the music being broken up and hazy, than an extra white noise. But, this 'fuzzy' sound, as best as I can remember, is in all the frequencies.

Color me confused.

[Greg Peters]

If the radio sounds OK but CD output is distorted, it may be something on the printed circuit board in the H/U that has gone bad. If am/fm sounds fine, the pre-amp circuits are probably undamaged. While I'm not familiar with the model JVC H/U you are referring to, if it has a built-in CD or even tape section in the H/U (outside of the external changer), then this would likely show the same distortion as well if it were a bad internal circuit. If this is fine, it may be a problem with where the changer cable connects to the circuit board inside the H/U (or even just corrosion on the connection at rear of unit).

I have had older equipment fail in this manner, and given the cost of repair vs a new H/U it's not worth fixing (unless you have the schematic and a lot of time on your hands). Printed circuits usually heat up, expand, and then give you an intermittant break in the problem circuit before failing for good. If the problem happened all at once, it could still be a physical break somewhere in the circuit board causing the problem.

Connections on the back of the H/U would be the first suspect. Swapping in another H/U that uses the same type of changer cable may answer the question.