jmcipale

Welcome to the insanity! 😁

I have never been a car guy. Now bicycles... 😆

Looked at the Service Manual for the 5340. In the NAD manual it references a "Laser Pick-Up, TOPH-7830" (Toshiba). Cross-referencing further I learned the direct replacement is: KSS-152 (🙄). At this point I wonder if by some (irritating) chance the part that was pulled is the wrong part. Granted, it isnt as if I were to order an engine for a 1962 Chevy small-block 6 cyl and I was delivered a 6.2L V8 for a GMC 1500. Wait a minute... I am in for 2 hrs of tech time and I have no desire to try and try and try for a working laser pickup. I do have questions as to who determined the KSS-152 is a viable replacement. The parts were not even close to mating. Ok, rant off.

Thank you Brian! I may just purchase the NAD (since a working unit is going to approx $90 from the cursory search I performed). The one laser pickup I DID see is $156 located in Germany. I can get a working unit for that. 😆 The good news is since I purchased it on amazon, I can get my money back (all of $40 USD). I have some decisions to make. Joe

Alas, I followed the reference to order a replacement for my DLBA1 on my TL-3200 and ordered a KSS-152A. The laser head arrived Tues, and I drove out to High-Tech Audio in Stevenson, WA. Roland took my Carver and the new head and set to work on it today. Sadly, I received a call from him this evening about 4 pm PDT. The laser pickup wont fit! The body of the new pickup is too big! It would get past the large cogged wheel (sadly, the images are too big to be loaded). The suggested replacement is a bit of a miss (KSS-152A). If some found a way to get this unit to work, I would love to know. Otherwise, I think the suggested table is erroneous. 😢 Joe

Welcome, Tux!

YOWZER! That is indeed deterioration! I can honestly say I have not seen any of my CDs look like that. I will keep an eye out on the age of my CDs. I have some new ones (purchased in the last year or so) that I will give a play to on the Carver and see what happens. Thank you for the suggestion, Brian! EDIT: Following up to this, I played two(2) CDs that I purchased last May and only been played a couple of times in the Emotiva. Both played completely from begin->end without a skip, bobble, hiccup. That is indeed another data point on this thread. EDIT 2: Well, THAT was short-lived. I replayed the 2nd disc and found a couple of skips (which is a shame, cause I really like "The Milagro Beanfield War" by Dave Grusin). "New" pickup ordered. Should be here by Monday and off to High-Tech Audio in Stevenson, WA same day. 😢

Thank you Kurt! When I took the unit in to be serviced 3 mos ago (4 shaky fingers, 2 old eyes and one solder bridge later), the tech had lubed the sled and did his best to adjust/clean the lens. I cant recall if they did anything to the belts. I will take a flyer on a replacement lens (ChatGPT/Gemini/Google) all said the Sony KSS-152A is a direct/cross-matched replacement for the DLBA-1. I figure $32 is a small enough risk to take, cuz damn, I really LIKE the 3200! Funny, as I write this, I am into track 3 of "The Gershwin Connection" by Dave Grusin. Not a single hiccup/skip (I know.. I know... famous last words).

Hey Carverites, I have a TL-3200 that i simply love (more then my Emotiva ERC-4). The problem I am seeing now 9after getting the display lights replaced) is that when i play a CD, most of the discs will skip at some point on track 2 and then later in the disc (perhaps track 5, track 8, etc). I suspect it has something to do with the position of the pickup wrt the position on the CD (closest analog i can think of is how a tonearm/cartridge tracks on a vinyl recording). The tech I took it to said 'the laser pickup is shot. And i cant get heads anymore.' I would hate to think I cant play this jewel reliably any longer. I am the original owner and i want to keep it in the system. Does anyone have any DIY fix suggestions or parts source? Thank you kindly, Joe P.S. - located another thread that lists replacement lasers, so hopefully THEY are still available.

Well, better late than never> I am a new member to the site, having just joined within the last two weeks. My name is Joe and I have been a ardent Carver fan for, well, as long as Bob Carver has been designing. I always liked his work with Phase Linear and sold his equipment in a past life as an audio salesperson. I currently have both a Carver tl3200 CD player and a Carver c-3 Preamp connected to my system (although I swamp the Carver with a Bryston MC-1 preamp). Once I accumulate the required number of points, i can post my system for the group.