Dear Sam & Clint -

I regret not being able to reply until now. My apologies.
To atone, I took some pictures of my deck that ~may~ to those of you more informed on these matters than I enable you to help me:

1) identify the maker of my transport, should I need parts or have to replace the whole assembly,
2) spot anything clearly needing adjustment or repair.

Since this group seems to limit attachments to one file of 350k size, it appears I may have to use mltiple messages to share the images. Besides the general shot of the deck included with this message, I took separate shots of:
the transport assembly;
the small pulley & belt for the tray opener;
and the transport disc spindle.
I hope these are visually clear and helpful.


sstrippoli

Note to List-

Attached to this message is Picture 2 (Transport Assembly) of my CAL Aria MkIII whose disc tray always activates & begins to engage but sometimes gets stuck closed.

Picture 3 is a closer detail shot of the Transport with parts labeled.

Picture 4 is a closeup of the somewhat inaccessible rear smaller pulley for the disc tray opener.
The larger front pulley is almost hidden from and almost completely inaccessible without some disassembly.

The final image I'll post for now, Picture 5 is of the Spindle, that centers & clamps the disc.
The top half of the Spindle raises to separate from the fixed bottom Spindle when the tray opens.
It lowers onto the bottom half when the tray closes; with or without a disc in the tray.
Well the top Spindle is magnetic and when it lowers this binds the two halves together and serves to clamp & stabilize the disc when its in the machine.

I have come to suspect that the tray is getting stuck shut sometimes because the magnet is keeping the Spindle halves together rather than separating.
In the attached picture, notice where the red arrow points to the dark band along the outer edge of the bottom Spindle ? This non-skid material is to help spin the disc without slippage but... it is also non-magnetic and may also have a secondary purpose of minimizing the magnetic binding of the spindle halves.

Anyone have any thoughts about this or maybe experience with this type of mechanism that can help this neophyte figure the problem out?

Thanks in advance for any information or assistance.

Stripoli:

The tray transport and laser mechanism should come out togther as a unit. You may have to take off the faceplate and or remove the bottom to to this. (On my Aria mk1, the faceplae has to come off.) That should give you access to the belt, which I think is the culprit. Try a regular rubber band that fits somewhat tightly and if this works, then order a new belt and your problems are over.

I'm curious, can you post a pic of the face with the display lit up?

S.

Now that you posted some pics it seems to me that the mech is apparently CAL designed made by Matsuschita and perhaps used by them also. I think the Acurus ACD11 and some Adcom uses that mech also....
Can you see any number of the back of the tray?

One thing i'd notice in one of the pics concerning the disc motor: Bearing wear causes serious tracking problems and I often find that the disc motor wears before the laser head. Maybe you could replace it...

But first do what Sam says. If it works, great. If not replace with a new complete assembly. You should make sure the disc motor is changed as well. The complete assembly assures you that the disc table height is correct.
Without the manual you shouldn't replace mech parts because you may need to do some adjustments...Sometimes the laser heads are adjusted to a standard at the factory, other times....

Maybe you can find something here:

http://www.dalbani.co.uk/index.php

http://www.wescomponents.com/

Note:
If you see that you cannot find what causes the problem in your great cdp you should try to contact these guys, also they have spare parts from CAL :
http://www.approvedaudioservice.com/

Hope it helps.