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You are here: Experts > Home/Garden > Home Appliances > TV/VCR/Stereo Troubleshooting > Sony HCD-251 compact disc receiver
Expert: cleggsan
Date: 9/23/2008
Subject: Sony HCD-251 compact disc receiver
Question
I read back to December of 07 with no one asking this question. I bought a stereo from a thrift store with it working in the store. When I got it home it wasn't working and I didn't realize it was 13 years old. No one will touch it because of how old it is. It works fine on the tuner selection but when I try the tape function it goes to CD. It also selects the CD function with the phono and video buttons. I bought a service owners manual and the buttons are sold separately however the buttons themselves do not seem to be broken when I took the unit apart. A piece of plastic is unattached on one side of the function keys but the service owners manual does not show a picture of the back side of the front panel. When I talk to Sony on the phone they tell me that the front panel is sold as one piece. I priced them through an electronics store and the front panel sells for 124 dollars. I don't know if it would be worth spending that much money especially since I am not an electrician and can't verify that I have figured out the problem. I found a HCD-241 on craigs list but Sony won't tell me if the parts are interchangeable. All I could get out of them was that many of the parts have the same specifications. I hope you might be able to give me some insight. Thanks. Cathy
Answer
Here are my thoughts:
ONE: If it worked well in the shop before you took it home and now it does not then the problem may be an intermittent connection in the switching system or keys - something that has been altered by the movements caused when carrying or delivering to its new home. A simple trick for intermittency is to smack or bang the unit gently with your hand or fist; move it around or giggle it a little. Doing these things will often reactivate the internal connection and restore it, sometimes permanently or sometimes temporarily, back to normal. Even if you get some change in operation it is evidence of a connection problem.
TWO: It may not be a switching function problem at all; rather it could be a failure of the controller electronics; meaning the logic function is coming properly from the front buttons but the controller circuitry is at fault and is not doing the proper internal switching. It could still be an intermittency in the works, but around the controller IC and not the buttons.
THREE: I good audio repair shop will look at it no matter what the age. Many shops work on recent products because the manufacturer supports it with repair/replace esupport. Older models require a real technician who understands the operation and workings of such equipment and relies on knowledge rather than plug and play replacement therapy. Therefore, I encourage you to find a place with real technicians who know how to troubleshoot and diagnose at the electronics level.
FOUR: Not to sound discouraging, but old receiver such as this are many, many generations out of date and do not represent the current state of technology or performance and are not worthy of a lot of attention. Further, newer units are far superior and lower in price to purchase as new items, comparatively. So, unless you are really attached to the unit for design or sentimental value I could not encourage you to spend a lot of time and effort or money on the project.
Finally, I would not recommend you replace the front panel or button array until you have proven that is where the problem is. Back to a good technician; such a verification is easy to do with a voltmeter and ohmmeter to check out the contacts or voltage operations. It does not take a service manual or any special knowledge to do this. A good shop with a smart tech can do this easily and at least tell you where the problem is centered even if they have no available parts to replace it with. And a really good technician can usually find substitute parts or apply engineering solutions to work around the lack of original parts - but it may be a little costly.
Hope this helps.
C
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