HEK

I thought at 1st that the CD's I was playing were either dirty or scratched and that the sensor that reads these was so sensitive that it was giving the impression that the CD was damaged.
Now with a brand new CD, I drove over a few bumps and it did the same thing, it skipped.
I was toying with the idea of getting a 6 CD changer/ radio but not with the stock tires and suspension that make it for a bumpy ride.
Are you having the same problem or do I have a "bum" radio?...thanks

HEK

fraynes1

Mine skips with regular cd's, but if I make a MP3 CD it works fine

Go figure.

HEK

uhmm, I have a few of those and never thought it would make a difference, thanks I'll try it...

mmccurdy

I don't have the skipping problem myself, but it makes sense that it would be fine with MP3 CD's.

I don't know the exact workings of the JK deck, but generally what happens with MP3's is that it will read a few megabytes of data from the disc and store them in memory while it plays them, then read a few more megabytes, play those, and so on. Since it's actually playing the music from memory (which is solid state, and not succeptible to skipping due to bumps) it will never skip. Even if it encounters a bump while it's trying to read, it has some of the data "in reserve" and it can simply play that while it tries again to read from the disc.

Incidentally, this is basically the same way an iPod works. Many portable CD players (and some car players) use a similar strategy for non-MP3 CDs where they read 10 or 15 seconds ahead for a buffer, but shock resistant transports have gotten a lot better recently, so most of the time it's not necessary in an automotive application. Like I said, I don't know whether the JK deck does this or not.

Anyway -- not a solution to your problem, but hopefully interesting nevertheless

Dean

Hi, My 2 cents:

Mp3s are really small files, maybe 2-4 megs of data. A .wav file on a CD is 10X that, so 20-40 megs of data. That's why you can fit 200 mp3s on a CD but only 15 songs in .wav format. The CD spins at the same speed no matter what sort of data is on it, so for every minute that goes by, it's a meg for an MP3, 10 megs for a .wav file (CD) that the decoder on the head-unit has to crunch and read. It's way less for an MP3, so better buffering. IF your player is skipping, it might need to be repaired. SHouldn't skip with a few bumps in the road.

The best thing is to scrap the head-unit altogether and get a headunit with a harddrive (I think Kenwood) or a slot for a USB key (JVC). Or keep the original headunit and get that iPod mushroom controller from Harman KArdon, and have your iPod connected to the Aux input behind the unit. Nice clean install, and sounds awesome.

The old iPods used to have a revolving disc, like a computer hard drive. If you wacked an older iPod hard enough (without breaking it) you could get it to skip, although some people say you just shocked the circuitry to the point where the output was interrupted. The Nano is totally solid state (no moving parts) so if anyone has or had both, you'd notice the NAno has nearly no startup time, accesses songs faster, and has a way longer battery life. I think all the newer iPods are going this route?

Good luck!

lwhitsell

I have the standard single CD head unit. I went over several speed bumps yesterday and each bump skipped the CD so bad that I had power-cycle the stereo to clear it. Happened 3x in a row.

Guess I'll put that on the list for my trip in to the dealer.

-LWhitsell

HEK

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I think that unless we change our suspension and tires the problem will persist and it has nothing to do with the system itself....I have a TL and have driven over pretty bumpy roads ( when it snows here in MA ) and never once have I had the CD skip....nor I felt the bumps... , so on that note I will just say that we will have to live with it, but, please reply to this thread when and if your dealer fixes it, but after watching the mechanics at the dealership where I bought the Ruby work on cars, I think they would make it worse...my 2 cents...

HappyCurmudgeon

I have the same head unit in mine, i pass over 2 speedbumps getting to work, and i go over 5 on the way home. (2 in work parkinglot, 3 at daughters school when i pick her up) I have yet to have my CD skip. :confused:

lwhitsell

Yeah, there has to be something wrong with my unit. I had the standard CD player in my previous 4x4 and I never had any issues like this.

Also, twice yesterday as I was leaving stoplights my entire stereo blinked out completely for about 1/2 second: sound and display.

I'll put it on the list for my trip back to the dealer.

HappyCurmudgeon

that sounds suspiciously like part of that whole TSB 18-036-06 thing everyone keeps talking about. maybe it is related.