[musictlk] Trouble With my Boombox

[Richard Holloway]

If the power itself really is flickering on and off, it is not just a dirty lens on the CD player. 

Many of those boxes use a detachable style of power cord that is a kind of “universal” cable. Those can work loose over time. Unplug the power from the boom box if it has that sort of a cable, then re-seat it. For that matter, be certain the power is into the wall or power strip firmly, the any power strip is properly turned on (not sitting with the switch halfway on) and all those sorts of things. 

There’s one more thing with those cords that is harder to manage. It usually happens when things get moved and the power cord itself gets swapped with a similar one. Some players have a little switch inside the plug to switch between AC (wall power) and batteries. When there are no batteries (or the batteries are too weak) and the switch moves too far, the power shuts off— a slightly small diameter on the power plug can trip the switch when that should not happen. To test for that, gently wiggle the power cord side to side (towards and away from the flat sides of the plug) gently to try and force the problem to occur. Press in as you do this, so you’re not slowly unplugging the unit as you test. The fix there is to wedge something thin and NON-conductive to keep the power cord tight against the plug. Think of a piece of electrical tape folded up for a shim, or perhaps a piece of cardstock, maybe folded a time or two (as needed). Do NOT use metal, including aluminum foil. 

I’ve worked in technical support situations over the years, and you might be amazed how often people request support when the power connection is loose, if not outright disconnected. It happens, so in case that’s the problem, don’t feel bad, and most of the people with the issues are typically sighted, so it isn’t vision-related either.

Remember that sound is produced by vibrating speakers, so while it may seem like nothing is moving anything on the box, the vibrations (especially of the bass) are shaking the entire machine while it plays, and of corse there may also be other movement or vibration moving the power cord, ever so slightly. 

The CD cleaner is also a good idea if the power issue gets resolved but the CD player keeps stopping. What you don’t want to do is manually clean anything inside the CD compartment. That’s not a good idea if you’re blind OR typically sighted. The moving lens and other parts are fragile and precisely aligned. Once they get bent or broken, the machine is basically a large paperweight, or maybe still usable as a radio, if so equipped. 

You’re not at all likely to get shocked in a CD compartment just by touching, but you’re quite likely to (at the very least) smudge oil from your finger onto the lens of the reading assembly and make things worse, if you don’t physically damage parts.

I hope that helps. 

Good luck!


> On Aug 21, 2016, at 9:26 PM, Annabelle Susan Morison via musictlk <musictlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi, it's Annabelle.
> I'm not sure if you know about this, but you can certainly give it your best
> shot. Do you know of any good quality USB-Powered stereo components out
> there? The reason why I ask this is because I have a boombox that has been
> acting strange recently. Basically, the whole thing started a couple nights
> ago when I was attempting to listen to music on my CD Player. That night, my
> boombox kept doing this crazy thing where the CD player would shut off in
> the middle of a song, and I wasn't even touching anything! Then the power
> would flicker off and on. This has never happened before. The former problem
> of the CD Player shutting off in the middle of a song has happened once
> before, and it drives me absolutely mad! I've had this boombox, a Panasonic
> RX-D16, since 2002. Now it's skipping on just about every CD I play. How
> does someone blind like me try to fix it without ruining the whole machine?
> I mean, I don't want to touch something important and wind up shocking
> myself. This particular model I have has been out-of-print for a while, and
> I want to find something similar if it's time to buy a new one. I wonder if
> there's a possibility for me to have a stereo system with separate
> components, things like CD Player, Tape Recorder, Record Player, and Radio,
> that is the same dimensions of my boombox? I want to find out if there are
> any separate components, preferably ones that have USB capabilities, that
> can fit into a space of 16.5"x10.8"x6.1".
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