How do you manually clean your laser lenses? ...DIY

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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Alright, I cleaned my laser lenses manually for years by using a Q-tip with isopropyl alcohol.
I use only one drop and extract the surplus.
Then I wipe the lens very gently side ways and even in circle.
And I use the other end of the Q-tip to dry any residue left over.
Always worked!

But now after talking to a Panasonic technician the other day; he told me to not clean manually the Blu-ray laser lens! And that it can only be done in a very specific way as it is much more sensitive than a CD lens. And best is to use a CD or Blu-ray lens cleaner disc.

I will talk to him again soon and will ask further details.

But meanwhile can someone here tell me his own experience with manually cleaning his Blu-ray laser lens? I'm sure I'm not the only person that does that.

By the way my Panasonic DMP-BD55 Blu-ray player cannot read Blu-ray discs anymore!
DVDs and CDs Yes, but no more Blu-rays! :(

The tech guy at Panasonic said to me that Blu-ray lenses after a certain time indeed cannot read Blu-ray discs any longer! I estimate that I played about 500 Blu-ray discs in that specific BD player since December 15, 2008 (up to about December 15, 2010, or exactly two years).

Anyone care to comment with some concrete facts or useful information?
So far I tend to believe that after a certain amount of discs the player becomes obsolete and time to buy another one! And the Panasonic technician expert is the one that confirmed that with me!

I bought my very first CD player back in 1987 (a Denon DCD-1500II) and I still have it but it cannot play CDs anymore! But I do have other CD players that are 20 years old and still play fine.

A Denon Universal DVD player cannot read SACDS anymore! I have lots of issues from Denon transports, and Yamaha CD transports as well (in Yamaha case it's a CD-R/CD-RW recorder that had three bad transports in only four-five years)!

My Rotel CD player is very sensitive to dust and needs constant care!

One very important thing! If you have a player that is very old and still play like brand new, I don't care! Because if you only played few CDs, or DVDs, or HD DVDs, or Blu-ray discs in it; it didn't have enough use to be truly meaningful! You know what I mean...

I have found that indeed after a normal usage and certain time, most disc spinners are simply of no more use!
And I must have about fifty or so disc spinners over the years (for home that is, not cars).

Now that I just said the truth from my own experience, I would love to know yours!

Go ahead, and the more precise you'll be, the more rewards you'll get from me! By that I mean I will also share more specific details with usage (rough estimate of discs being played in each machine), and the time those were used. I have an excellent memory and my estimates will be very close to accuracy!
And I like to know as much about cheaper players to mid ones and to more expensive ones. Or from $200 MSRP to $20,000 MSRP. And ALL the brands, to find out which transports last the longest and also with accurate reading of the discs (any type of discs)!

This thread should be a real eye opener! I want to know which brands, which transports are the very Best and that are durable! And which ones should be dismissed, like my Samsung High Def Combo player, the Duo BD-UP5000 player, which was $999 when first released. It was a constant pain in the butt plus it was constantly dropping Audio every few minutes!
There are some brands of players and TVs that I would never contemplate! And I want people here to be honest and reveal those facts!

I got a lot more to say, but I wanna know if I'm free to share my experiences; the good and the bad!
And the bad is predominant! Sorry it's just the nature of the beast! ...Not the best! ;)

I also wanna know about manufacturing inspections! ...Control & Quality!
And Customer Services & Support with the very Best in the Bizz! ...Like Bryston for example!
And few other companies like Oppo, or Emotiva, and some high-end companies.

But also, the value ($$) is also part of the equation, and has to be perfectly balanced for the most common mortels! And that includes anyone between the age of six and ninety-six! ...And also anyone that spend from $200 to $20,000 or so for a disc spinner! The average is mosy likely closer to about $500 to $1,000 or so max! And I'm very generous here.

The people I intend to reach is ALL of you! Without a single exception! None whatsoever! We simply cannot afford that here with only one thousand members!

Ok, who's next? :)
 
Last edited:

Ronm1

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All of my Redbook playing is on a AA DDspro, thru mod'd PT gear. I got the DDs used in 03, twas in great shape, have played hundred/thousand of cd's, never cleaned the lens. This unit has the pio laser unit were the cd goes label side down.
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Hi Ron, I have also a Pioneer Universal DVD player, but it massages the direct audio stream by corrupting it so for example an HDCD encoded CD is not played properly! It is not decoded by my Denon receiver with an HDCD decoder!

Pioneer is famous for that as they have their own proprietary audio 'massager'! ...Legato Link, etc.

And Panasonic DVD-Audio players with HDCD decoders are also corrupted by not decoding HDCD encoded CDs properly! ...They omit the last few 6dBs of dynamic range by extracting the last bit!

I got a lot more to say... But first I wanna see how many members here are interested and still use disc spinners. Any type: 16-bit/44.1 Khz to 32-bit/352 Khz (or 24-bit/384 Khz) upsampling disc players.
And all type of disc mediums: CDs, HDCDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs, DVD-Audios, SACDs, HD DVDs, Blu-rays, Gold CDS, JVC XRCDII-24-bit CDs, etc...
 

fas42

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Bob, I still have my original battleship Yamaha CDX 1100, from 1986, that gave me the first burst of the good sound that I've been talking about. It has a proper digital volume control, which meant eliminating the preamp, typically a very significant hindrance to getting good sound. The electronics typically take quite a while to stabilise so I have always left it powered up 24/7.

It's still going well. Its biggest weakness mechanically was the drawer mechanism with the belt giving up the ghost, there is just a little bit too much effort required to get the drawer open cycle happening in the first instance, so the belt has to be in good condition. At the moment the belt's slipping again, and a few tries are needed to warm the rubber up; but it is easy enough to change.

The beast had a long holiday for well over 10 years, and after that it took a little bit of TLC to get it running again, the mechanicals didn't like coming to life again. At one stage then it did a good job of imitating a cutting lathe on a, luckily not very important disk! But once all the oils finally got all their acts together it was fine.

Frank
 

Ronm1

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Hi Ron, I have also a Pioneer Universal DVD player, but it massages the direct audio stream by corrupting it so for example an HDCD encoded CD is not played properly! It is not decoded by my Denon receiver with an HDCD decoder!

Pioneer is famous for that as they have their own proprietary audio 'massager'! ...Legato Link, etc.



And Panasonic DVD-Audio players with HDCD decoders are also corrupted by not decoding HDCD encoded CDs properly! ...They omit the last few 6dBs of dynamic range by extracting the last bit!

I got a lot more to say... But first I wanna see how many members here are interested and still use disc spinners. Any type: 16-bit/44.1 Khz to 32-bit/352 Khz (or 24-bit/384 Khz) upsampling disc players.
And all type of disc mediums: CDs, HDCDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs, DVD-Audios, SACDs, HD DVDs, Blu-rays, Gold CDS, JVC XRCDII-24-bit CDs, etc...

Bob
Just to be clear the DDSpro is a xport no analog out, but the PTgear does not do HDCD's correctly , so for those I use my backup player a CEC to the Rotel 1065 which does the HDCD correctly, too my knowledge anyway, haven't cleaned that either but it doesn't get as much use as the DDspro. Also have a PIO 79 for HiRes, only SACD's, DVDa's, never cleaned either and an Oppo 80 for movies, never cleaned. Oops forgot a Tosh 9200 which I keep on hand when I want to hear superior MLP playback, IMHO of course. As you can see I haven't found a one size meets all yet to my satisfaction/price point. I still use physical media only, essentially all you mention above minus HD dvds/blueray. Actually I'll add K2HD's which are my current favorite.
 

fas42

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Bob, just a thought... . Would you have some people who are smokers in the home? This has always been considered a big no-no in areas where you have very close tolerances and high speeds, the tiny particles of ash can cause huge problems for equipment in general.

Frank
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
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435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Bob, I still have my original battleship Yamaha CDX 1100, from 1986, that gave me the first burst of the good sound that I've been talking about. It has a proper digital volume control, which meant eliminating the preamp, typically a very significant hindrance to getting good sound. The electronics typically take quite a while to stabilise so I have always left it powered up 24/7.

It's still going well. Its biggest weakness mechanically was the drawer mechanism with the belt giving up the ghost, there is just a little bit too much effort required to get the drawer open cycle happening in the first instance, so the belt has to be in good condition. At the moment the belt's slipping again, and a few tries are needed to warm the rubber up; but it is easy enough to change.

The beast had a long holiday for well over 10 years, and after that it took a little bit of TLC to get it running again, the mechanicals didn't like coming to life again. At one stage then it did a good job of imitating a cutting lathe on a, luckily not very important disk! But once all the oils finally got all their acts together it was fine.

Frank

Hi Frank,

A vacation of 10 years is a long break! My Denon DCD-1500II CD player never had a break like that.
But the transport even after I fixed it by replacing a spring is still troublesome in its slowlyness.
The motor would need to be replaced. And the laser lens is totally out of whack!
Belts are easy to replace (I usually fix all my electronic components myself; unless I can't find the problem). And sometimes the entire transport mechanism has to be replaced.

I also luv fixing Turntables and Tape Cassette Decks.

But I should get on with the program; Music Server, and Internet Streaming!
I'm still living in the past lol.
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Bob, just a thought... . Would you have some people who are smokers in the home? This has always been considered a big no-no in areas where you have very close tolerances and high speeds, the tiny particles of ash can cause huge problems for equipment in general.

Frank

Yes I'm the big smoker (cigarettes only), so that's why I have to clean all my laser lenses on a regular basis! But I enjoyed doing it as it has been one of my hobbies since I was a teenager.

I also live by the ocean, which is totally different than where I used to live; in the dry mountains of the Okanagan valley. The copper reacts differently, and even the sound is different!
- I did have a thread on another forum (site) about the effects of altitude on the sound, in particular in the low bass frequencies.

Smoke fogs your lenses and everything else.
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Bob
Just to be clear the DDSpro is a xport no analog out, but the PTgear does not do HDCD's correctly , so for those I use my backup player a CEC to the Rotel 1065 which does the HDCD correctly, too my knowledge anyway, haven't cleaned that either but it doesn't get as much use as the DDspro. Also have a PIO 79 for HiRes, only SACD's, DVDa's, never cleaned either and an Oppo 80 for movies, never cleaned. Oops forgot a Tosh 9200 which I keep on hand when I want to hear superior MLP playback, IMHO of course. As you can see I haven't found a one size meets all yet to my satisfaction/price point. I still use physical media only, essentially all you mention above minus HD dvds/blueray. Actually I'll add K2HD's which are my current favorite.

Yes I know Ron; I was only adding another player also from Pioneer to it that's all. That was a DV-563A Universal DVD player, a very cheap one.
That was one of the very first ones to be so low in price and decent enough with SACDs.

The Rotel 1065 I'm familiar with, so is the Pioneer 79. And the Toshiba 9200 (a solid unit with DVD-Audio).
The Oppo 80 ain't that old.

I think so far we are candidates to an Oppo BDP-93 or 95. Nu-Force Edition? :)

* K2HD, good quality sound! ...I luv JVC XRCD 24-bit meself! ...And some SACDs. ...And some DVD-Audios. HDCD encoded CDs? Got few of those too; 500 plus.

___________________

FACTS:
Software = You always replace with better remastering and mediums!
Hardware = The exact same! ...Better parts (DACs, etc.) and latest formats... Zillion of them! :eek:

Morality: Better keep up if you want to be true to your Audiophiliac origins! :)
 

fas42

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Jan 8, 2011
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Yes I'm the big smoker ..
I also live by the ocean
Well, you're certainly making your gear work for a living! :D Especially the ocean bit, we did that some years, only a few hundred yards from the water and it ate up and spat out a computer after a year! Took the machine apart and supposedly gold plated connectors everywhere were oozing green muck, copper rust; the salt air is pretty vicious on electronics ...

Frank
 

Ronm1

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I think so far we are candidates to an Oppo BDP-93 or 95. Nu-Force Edition? :)
___________________

Morality: Better keep up if you want to be true to your Audiophiliac origins! :)

I agree, all three appear to be excellent uni's, from pro review's and internet post.

I was never pleased with the early Oppo's for audio, 70 when to daughter's room quickly and as above 80 is movies only. Pretty damn good video for little money, course they started, IMHO, the rash of inexpensive video players on the market.

Yes, I have quite a few Hires or Phile type disc's. While good music is certainly the key. Seems phoolish to not feed your h/w good food. If intereted I can send you or point to my list??
 

NorthStar

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Few influenceable factors...

Well, you're certainly making your gear work for a living! :D Especially the ocean bit, we did that some years, only a few hundred yards from the water and it ate up and spat out a computer after a year! Took the machine apart and supposedly gold plated connectors everywhere were oozing green muck, copper rust; the salt air is pretty vicious on electronics ...

Frank

Hey Frank, I know all about it as I live only two hundred feet or less from the ocean! And you're right; the salty air and rain ate my truck and oxidized not only my own lungs but also the ones of my electronics! And I tell you this too; I have a lot of electronics, reproducers and makers (instruments and all their derivatives for effects and amplification).

It is normal custom for me to strip all my speaker wires every couple years or so.
There is simply no other places on Earth to learn all about protective methods for your audio gear!
Living in the mountains or by a lake is small peanuts, easy living, compared to Ocean view!
Remember, I am an Islander for the last fifteen years! And before that I was a Montaineer for twenty years.
And before that I was a Flatlander (from the Interior) also for twenty years.
So I experimented various climates, temperatures, altitudes; closer to water, closer to sky, closer to forests, and I've seen all their influences on my electronics.

A lot of people dismiss those important factors when talking about Audio! You can't! They are part of the equilibrium! Same as nature elements!

Sound propagation, dispersion, distribution, propulsion, reverberation, ... all act differently with climate variables; from humidity to dryness, from deep down under water to way up on a jet plane or in a space station, from freezing cold to burning hot...
Our planet is three-dimensional with several points of origin. And those origin' points are all over in our vast universe!

People don't usually talk about those things as they are much too consumed in their own sound bubble. :D
{Even listening with all the lights off compared to all the lights on is a totally different experience!}
What our eyes see or don't, effects our musical emotions. Our mind concentration as opposed to drifting about, has a different perception to what we hear.
Music has the power to bring us back closer or to let us swim in a vast ocean...

___________________________________

"The Greatest Power of Music is Sharing." - Bob

"Spiritual Awareness on an Emotional Level is a Multitude among a Unity." - Bob
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
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435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
I agree, all three appear to be excellent uni's, from pro review's and internet post.

I was never pleased with the early Oppo's for audio, 70 when to daughter's room quickly and as above 80 is movies only. Pretty damn good video for little money, course they started, IMHO, the rash of inexpensive video players on the market.

Yes, I have quite a few Hires or Phile type disc's. While good music is certainly the key. Seems phoolish to not feed your h/w good food. If intereted I can send you or point to my list??

Ron, everything you cherish and love in life, Bob is interested in! :)
 

Ronm1

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Yes I'm the big smoker (cigarettes only), so that's why I have to clean all my laser lenses on a regular basis! But I enjoyed doing it as it has been one of my hobbies since I was a teenager.
Smoke fogs your lenses and everything else.

You need to get off the butts. Stopped cold turkey almost 30yrs ago!! Karen had the boys on my butt quite often, back then! Smart , it eventually it had an effect.
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
You need to get off the butts. Stopped cold turkey almost 30yrs ago!! Karen had the boys on my butt quite often, back then! Smart , it eventually it had an effect.

Now you're totally off topic! ;):D

The right thing to do in life is often the one that you already know but not necessarily do! ;)
 

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