Thread: Strangest thing happen with my Denon A1VX SACD player

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Post by monotone August 15, 2007 (11 of 20)
eesau said:

Hi,

the unit that reads SACD, DVD and CD in the player. It is a module that can be replaced ... pretty much like a CD/DVD in you PC.

ESa

thanks esa

any idea how much it'll cost to replace the module?

Post by dlevans August 15, 2007 (12 of 20)
My Denon 2900 worked perfectly for about three years of heavy use. It was my primary player for both redbook and SACD as well as films. About 6 months ago I had many disk drop outs and reading problems on SACD's as well as a few redbooks. After testing every SACD in my old Sony, which still works perfectly I took it back to the Denon dealer for repairs.

Of course it was out of warranty so all cost had to be covered by me.

After a week in the shop it was finsihed, the whole laser unit assembly, arm/capture etc. were replaced and recalibrated. This cost me 130 euro.

This is what I do not understand and would love comments on:

My Denon now sounds superb, I mean in a major way. SACD and Redbook alike have dramatic sound improvements, spatial placement and depth that it never had before.

How could replacing the laser and assembly have such a dramtic effect on the sound quality of this unit?

Any ideas would certainly help.

thanx

Post by monotone August 16, 2007 (13 of 20)
dlevans said:

My Denon 2900 worked perfectly for about three years of heavy use. It was my primary player for both redbook and SACD as well as films. About 6 months ago I had many disk drop outs and reading problems on SACD's as well as a few redbooks. After testing every SACD in my old Sony, which still works perfectly I took it back to the Denon dealer for repairs.

Of course it was out of warranty so all cost had to be covered by me.

After a week in the shop it was finsihed, the whole laser unit assembly, arm/capture etc. were replaced and recalibrated. This cost me 130 euro.

This is what I do not understand and would love comments on:

My Denon now sounds superb, I mean in a major way. SACD and Redbook alike have dramatic sound improvements, spatial placement and depth that it never had before.

How could replacing the laser and assembly have such a dramtic effect on the sound quality of this unit?

Any ideas would certainly help.

thanx

hey dlevans

3 years might sound ridiculous to start failing... but at least urs was on heavy usage... i barely used mine for about 9 months due to other commitments and the player just died on me (to be fair, only on SACD side of things, DVD/DVD-A r ok).

Denon has instructed the guys to replace the laser... so hopefully my denon will be revived. The techs claimed that SACD is a major prob, especially with universal players... I told them they should think about it before selling them and charging the price of the A1VX commands... they went on to say the Denon is built for its video side of things... etc... whatever!

Post by dlevans August 16, 2007 (14 of 20)
When I picked up my Denon 2900 I was told by the technician that the 2900 from my series was known for its laser problems and has since been fixed with the type of laser they installed.

Do to the fact that many Denon 2900 buyers purchased this unit as a primary DVD machine and not for its audio capabilities, they have not seen an overabundance of laser replacements.

I hope you get the same one, its supposed to be more reliable.

Let me know if you get some sound quality improvement like I did. I am really impressed and falling in love all over again with my collection.

Post by monotone August 27, 2007 (15 of 20)
Thanks everyone for the info provided earlier...

My player is back and the problems are fixed! They replaced the DVD/CD compoent has been replaced. Sounding really good, and yes I do miss the multichannel side of SACD! and forgotten how good they were supposed to sound on my system!

Post by monotone September 11, 2007 (16 of 20)
dlevans said:

When I picked up my Denon 2900 I was told by the technician that the 2900 from my series was known for its laser problems and has since been fixed with the type of laser they installed.

Do to the fact that many Denon 2900 buyers purchased this unit as a primary DVD machine and not for its audio capabilities, they have not seen an overabundance of laser replacements.

I hope you get the same one, its supposed to be more reliable.

Let me know if you get some sound quality improvement like I did. I am really impressed and falling in love all over again with my collection.

After spending the last week listening to the player... I have to agree with dlevans that the sound has actually improved with the replacement of the DVD/SACD mechanism. The significant different is the spacial improvement of the soundstage. Not only wider but sounded far more detailed.

Bjork's Medulia sounds amazingly balanced now (with the same surround settings for the mechanism was replaced).

And yes, I'm falling in love too with my SACD collection.

Thanks again.

Post by Satan September 25, 2007 (17 of 20)
My Denon DVD 2900 stopped reading hybrid SACDs properly less than a year after purchase. The next to go were the normal redbook CDs, followed by the DTS layer of DVDs, followed by the DD5.1 and DD2.0 layers of DVDs. Now it can't read anything in a problem-free manner! Scour the internet and you will realise that Denon players are rarely problem free.

When I called the Denon service centre, the lady who took my call was honest enough to tell me that I would be spending a few hundred bucks on laser re-alignment that would be problem-free for only a year or so. After that, I could expect the same problems to arise again.

What took the cake though was this - I went back to the dealer and asked why he didn't let me know of all the problems that were being reported on the DVD 2900. He basically replied to say that if I had done my homework, I would have known that Denon is notorious for player problems and that I should have bought a Marantz instead!

Post by FunkyMonkey September 25, 2007 (18 of 20)
Satan said:

My Denon DVD 2900 stopped reading hybrid SACDs properly less than a year after purchase. The next to go were the normal redbook CDs, followed by the DTS layer of DVDs, followed by the DD5.1 and DD2.0 layers of DVDs. Now it can't read anything in a problem-free manner! Scour the internet and you will realise that Denon players are rarely problem free.

When I called the Denon service centre, the lady who took my call was honest enough to tell me that I would be spending a few hundred bucks on laser re-alignment that would be problem-free for only a year or so. After that, I could expect the same problems to arise again.

What took the cake though was this - I went back to the dealer and asked why he didn't let me know of all the problems that were being reported on the DVD 2900. He basically replied to say that if I had done my homework, I would have known that Denon is notorious for player problems and that I should have bought a Marantz instead!

If this is a UK dealer, please name and shame them and warn the rest of us!

Post by Satan September 25, 2007 (19 of 20)
The real problem is with Denon. They shouldn't be selling products that are not guaranteed to be problem-free for at least five years because it really hurts their reputation in the marketplace.

My Marantz has been with me for almost six years now and has yet to give me a single problem. My Toshiba (which only plays DVDs) has been with me for more than eight years now and, again, has not given me a single problem. And the Toshiba has proven to be so much more robust than the Denon. The faintest scratch or the slightest bit of dust on the playing surface of the DVD and it's almost a guarantee that the Denon will freeze at some point during playback, especially if it's the DTS soundtrack that's been opted for. The Toshiba can play almost anything I throw at it, even scratched up and dusty DVDs.

I am not buying Denon again ever!

Post by monotone September 28, 2007 (20 of 20)
Satan said:

The real problem is with Denon. They shouldn't be selling products that are not guaranteed to be problem-free for at least five years because it really hurts their reputation in the marketplace.

My Marantz has been with me for almost six years now and has yet to give me a single problem. My Toshiba (which only plays DVDs) has been with me for more than eight years now and, again, has not given me a single problem. And the Toshiba has proven to be so much more robust than the Denon. The faintest scratch or the slightest bit of dust on the playing surface of the DVD and it's almost a guarantee that the Denon will freeze at some point during playback, especially if it's the DTS soundtrack that's been opted for. The Toshiba can play almost anything I throw at it, even scratched up and dusty DVDs.

I am not buying Denon again ever!

I had alot of problems with one of the earlier Marantz premium multichannel SACD/DVD player... it failed to read cetain SACDs and when corrected, it failed to read copy protected CDs.

The only thing I can say is that the guys at Marantz was pretty helpful and offered me the SA-11 as an exchange and it's a fantastic player.

The Denon is doing really well... hopefully for a long time.

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