93 fleetwood cadillac - radio/cd/cassette combo - factory. on the CD band only the right side front and rear speakers do not work. they work on FM, AM and cassete
Probably a corroded connector or broken solder joint in the line between the CD player’s right channel and the audio amp section.
I think your only option is to try and get a used one which may be a problem, or take it in to a Delco repair shop for a repair. I had a problem with my AM band in one of my Rivieras and they just replaced the FM board on it for about $150. Said they were having trouble with them and likely a used one would develop the same problem. I found a cold solder joint back in the 70’s but these days its pretty hard to find the bad component. Worth a look anyway but then while its out might as well take it to a shop.
If you care about maintaining the look of the stock radio, try ebay for a replacement–they should be plentiful and pretty cheap. If you just want a nice and updated audio system for your car, try crutchfield.com They are not the cheapest place around, but will usually give you a free installation kit, and free troubleshooting assistance if you have problems. They also know exactly what will fit in your dash and any problems you can expect. So instead of suffering an old CD player that may or may not cope with anything but store-bought CDs, you can have a new unit with USB, MP3, aux inputs, and many other features (incl. Pandora if you want) for a pretty reasonable price.
You might try one of those CDs that clean the player mechanism on the offbeat chance that there is dirt preventing the mechanism from picking up one channel. While this may not solve the problem, the cost is peanuts and if it does the trick, you are money ahead.
I was thinking that too @Tridaq, but I think the way CD’s work, these gadgets, they only have one optical signal pickup. The right and left data are intermingled on the disc, and go through the single pickup. So I’m guessing the optical pick-up on a CD, the thing you’d clean, it either it works on both channels, or it doesn’t work at all. Seems unlikely cleaning it would bring back a lost channel. But it’s inexpensive, takes little time, and it probably needs a cleaning anway, so is at least worth a try.
Unless the OP enjoys to experiment, probably like the others say above, best strategy is to find a replacement for the whole unit.
To heck with the CD player and CDs. If the channels all work on the cassette player, get an mp3 player or use the one you have and get a cassette adaptor or fm adaptor and convert your CDs to mp3 files. It will be much more convienient and easier on your CDs then playing them in the car. With a 93 set up, some thing else is bound to to wrong. If it does, replace unit with one with at least a mini jack input as suggested by @oblivian. The world has long moved to solid state storage for music with no moving parts for the harsh invironment in cars.
Yes, I wish the sound system in both my cars were just an am/fm radio with a usb input so the radio could play the usb-memory-stick contained mp3 files.
@GeorgeSanJose
Same problem here…I have two great older cars but would trade them just for that feature as I really don’t want to price a new radio…
I was amazed that my 05 4runner actually had a tape player. It’s NEVER been used. I still have CD’s that I listen to. My next vehicle will probably have a USB port. Then I’ll start putting a lot of my music on flash drives. They’re so cheap and small now…and getting cheaper and smaller.
I know at home, the CD still sounds superior to mp3 music files. But, frankly, in a car with all the ambient noise and the improvement over the years in the play back, it really doesn’t matter to most( and me). I see no advantage to playing CDs in a car anymore then the old wax 331/3 records at home. It seems just as unnecessary and archaic. The convienient of being able to listen to all music that sounds good, usurps the ability to listen to a small collection that “may” sound slightly better in a car environment. Replace the radio !
MP3s can sound just fine if they’re encoded correctly. If they’re being encoded at 128K or less, they’re going to sound like they’re missing something. I think CD quality is around 144K. I usually encode mine at 196 when “ripping” a disc. And if you have XM, you will notice it is significantly less quality than even broadcast FM stations.
I will say that if you upgrade your radio, you will be kicking yourself for not doing it sooner. Spend a few bucks and also look at people’s reviews of the equipment you’re considering, not just sound but how easy it is to use. You’ll be glad you didn’t get that $69 off-brand special. If your car has an external amplifier(s) for the in-dash unit, whatever you buy is probably going to sound at least as good as what you have now–the external amps are doing most of the heavy lifting. If your car does not though, you’re going to want to get something with decent power output. Think RMS and not “peak” output when buying. If you contact crutchfield.com before buying, they can tell you if your car has external amps or not, and if there’s anything special you need to do when wiring the unit to make sure all the external amps work properly.
Sometimes I wish I knew what you guys were talking about with MP3, 144K, ripping disks, etc., then other times I don’t want to know. I’ve got cassette tapes I can’t use anymore, and now you want me to give up my CDs? I’ve got an ipod or whatever its called but have no idea how to get stuff from a cassette to it. Maybe they’ll have a basic class at the senior center or something. Until then I just hope the cars will continue to have a radio in them and there will be stations still available.
@Bing - I’d forget the tapes, set up an iTunes account and download the specific tracks and/or albums you want, load them onto the iPod. The sound quality will be MUCH better.
You can copy (‘rip’ which means the combination of copying and converting) your CDs to the Apple equivalent of an MP3 file with iTunes, then load them into your iPod.
There you go again (as Ronnie used to say): Set up an itunes account? Download? Maybe the senior center will have a class on it sometime.
It’s not much different than copying an LP onto a cassette tape…just with a computer in the middle instead of the receiver.
If you’re interested, here’s one of those ‘Dummies’ guides that’ll have everything you need to know:
http://www.dummies.com/store/product/iPod-and-iTunes-For-Dummies-10th-Edition.productCd-1118508645.html
Or go to Amazon and buy and download the MP3s you want—most are 99¢ and are not encumbered with the draconian copy protection that Apple likes to employ–you can use them on all of your devices.
There you go again (as Ronnie used to say): Set up an itunes account? Download? Maybe the senior center will have a class on it sometime.
I was at the Apple store getting the screen on my Son’s Ipad replaced last month. It was on a Sunday morning before they opened. They were conducting a class in one section of the store on how to use an IPad. There wasn’t a person there under 50.