[Sonny]

Hi there, I've had my player for over four years, yes, it's the longest living piece in the system...and I can't seem to justify buying something else to replace it that would cost me $2000.  Really like the SA11S1 from marantz, but can't afford it.

Anyways, I have a couple of sacds that it used to play, but now won't even read and register it.  It just gives me an error message on the display.  I've had other disc reading problems with it, but after a couple of times of opening and closing, it reads it fine, except for this one and one more, and they are SACDs.  One was the Red Hot Ray Brown Trio and the other is the Matt Haimovitz "Please Welcome" sacd.

Do you think I need to get the laser cleaned or what?  All other disc are fine on it.

Thanks
T

[warnerwh]

This is a well known issue with this player. Many people sell them and just tell people they'll no longer play sacd's and/or have read errors because the fix is so expensive. Do a search on AA or Audiogon's forum and you can get more info there.

I had one myself and it didn't take me too long to decide that I needed to get rid of it. Actually it took two players to get one that worked properly. Sound is excellent but not worth it. Now I use a Sony ES changer with a dac. It's far faster to play a disc and out of all the Sony ES players I've owned none have had a problem.

There's a new model replacing the 8260 but I don't know if it is any better.

[Sonny]

I had one myself and it didn't take me too long to decide that I needed to get rid of it. Actually it took two players to get one that worked properly. Sound is excellent but not worth it. Now I use a Sony ES changer with a dac. It's far faster to play a disc and out of all the Sony ES players I've owned none have had a problem.

There's a new model replacing the 8260 but I don't know if it is any better.

Thanks...I've had it a long time...I am looking for a new player, but they are expensive right now for good one that will better the 8260's ROI (return on investment).  It does bug me that it doesn't play those two disc, but my new oppo does, and I guess I'll live with it for now...until I can find another sacd player. 

The newer version is called the SA-8001.  I've talked to a dealer and he said that the new one is like the old, not any better, apparently and that it would be a waste to buy that, but rather buy the SA11 S1. Perhaps he was trying to get me to spend more money!!!

[lazydays]

I had one myself and it didn't take me too long to decide that I needed to get rid of it. Actually it took two players to get one that worked properly. Sound is excellent but not worth it. Now I use a Sony ES changer with a dac. It's far faster to play a disc and out of all the Sony ES players I've owned none have had a problem.

There's a new model replacing the 8260 but I don't know if it is any better.

Thanks...I've had it a long time...I am looking for a new player, but they are expensive right now for good one that will better the 8260's ROI (return on investment).  It does bug me that it doesn't play those two disc, but my new oppo does, and I guess I'll live with it for now...until I can find another sacd player. 

The newer version is called the SA-8001.  I've talked to a dealer and he said that the new one is like the old, not any better, apparently and that it would be a waste to buy that, but rather buy the SA11 S1. Perhaps he was trying to get me to spend more money!!!

I have had mine for about two years now, and have one disc it will not read. It's the Steely Dan "Gaucho." Have two other units that will play SACD, and both of them will play that one disc. But here's the strange part of the deal. This disc is about four or five years old, and just for the hell of it I threw it in my Jolida CD100A. It played, and actually sounded better than the same disc in the two Sonys I have. Figure that one out!
gary

[lazydays]

This is a well known issue with this player. Many people sell them and just tell people they'll no longer play sacd's and/or have read errors because the fix is so expensive. Do a search on AA or Audiogon's forum and you can get more info there.

I had one myself and it didn't take me too long to decide that I needed to get rid of it. Actually it took two players to get one that worked properly. Sound is excellent but not worth it. Now I use a Sony ES changer with a dac. It's far faster to play a disc and out of all the Sony ES players I've owned none have had a problem.

There's a new model replacing the 8260 but I don't know if it is any better.

I bought me 8260 because I knew there had to be something better than a Sony. Otherwise I was just going to stay as far away from the format as possable. The first time I played it I knew the two Sonys were now door stops. But the read error issue is a well known thing, and from what I gather is about a $200 fix. So lets see here, I take $200 and the $749 I paid for my unit, and add them together. That makes it $949, and is still less money than I paid for my 9000ES, and still sounds better.
    But when this one dies (it will someday), I'll buy a McCormack universal player and go from there. That is unless I can get a major deal on the new Classe.
gary

[stvnharr]

Hi there, I've had my player for over four years, yes, it's the longest living piece in the system...and I can't seem to justify buying something else to replace it that would cost me $2000.  Really like the SA11S1 from marantz, but can't afford it.

Anyways, I have a couple of sacds that it used to play, but now won't even read and register it.  It just gives me an error message on the display.  I've had other disc reading problems with it, but after a couple of times of opening and closing, it reads it fine, except for this one and one more, and they are SACDs.  One was the Red Hot Ray Brown Trio and the other is the Matt Haimovitz "Please Welcome" sacd.

Do you think I need to get the laser cleaned or what?  All other disc are fine on it.

Thanks
T

Once the laser begins the error routine, the only way to correct things is to get the Marantz "fix".  Since you are likely out of warranty, then I believe the cost is around 200 USD.  If the laser is still strong, not needing to be replaced, then that will do it,  and it's the cheapest option of those available.
My 8260 has had the "fix" and a laser replacement and works well.  It's a good player.

[Charles Calkins]

 I'm not 100% sure but it seems to me I was told that the 8260 has the same mace and furore chips that were used in the Phillips SACD 1000. I'm sure you've read all about the SACD 1000 failures due to these chips. If so then the bad news is that Phillips doesn't make new chips. So I would have to assume the same for the 8260. A lot more info. is available on the aplhifi.com site.

                                      Cheers
                                       Charlie

[stvnharr]

I'm not 100% sure but it seems to me I was told that the 8260 has the same mace and furore chips that were used in the Phillips SACD 1000. I'm sure you've read all about the SACD 1000 failures due to these chips. If so then the bad news is that Phillips doesn't make new chips. So I would have to assume the same for the 8260. A lot more info. is available on the aplhifi.com site.

                                      Cheers
                                       Charlie

Charlie,
It is the SA-12 that is like the Philips SACD 1000, NOT the SA-8260.  And while the SA-12 has the same chips, it hasn't seen the same failure troubles as the Philips unit.  The 8260 common troubles are easily fixed.

Steve

[Sonny]

Thanks for all the feedback Steve and Gary...
I call Service Wide Technologies, in IL, and they said to ship it to them, they will put it on the bench and tell me what they see.  the only thing is, since I live in CA, the whole thing will last a little more than 3 weeks, don't know if I can wait that long, but I guess the new Oppo 981 player will have to do triple duty now, playing CDs and SACDs on top of just DVDs.

Thanks!
T

[lazydays]

Thanks for all the feedback Steve and Gary...
I call Service Wide Technologies, in IL, and they said to ship it to them, they will put it on the bench and tell me what they see.  the only thing is, since I live in CA, the whole thing will last a little more than 3 weeks, don't know if I can wait that long, but I guess the new Oppo 981 player will have to do triple duty now, playing CDs and SACDs on top of just DVDs.

Thanks!
T

I ordered a new Yamaha S1700 universal player last Friday, just to play DVD-A's. But in a pinch I can always use it to play SACD's while the Marantz is in the shop. I will send my Marantz into the repair center later in the summer unless it craps out. I hate to do this as I really like the way the Marantz sounds. I've heard that after the latest firmware updates the read time is much faster, but only wish they could program it to default to nothing but two channel.
gary

[Sonny]

Thanks for all the feedback Steve and Gary...
I call Service Wide Technologies, in IL, and they said to ship it to them, they will put it on the bench and tell me what they see.  the only thing is, since I live in CA, the whole thing will last a little more than 3 weeks, don't know if I can wait that long, but I guess the new Oppo 981 player will have to do triple duty now, playing CDs and SACDs on top of just DVDs.

Thanks!
T

I ordered a new Yamaha S1700 universal player last Friday, just to play DVD-A's. But in a pinch I can always use it to play SACD's while the Marantz is in the shop. I will send my Marantz into the repair center later in the summer unless it craps out. I hate to do this as I really like the way the Marantz sounds. I've heard that after the latest firmware updates the read time is much faster, but only wish they could program it to default to nothing but two channel.
gary

Gary, I don't find this default to multi-channel too much of a problem...I just hit the Sound source button, the one fartest to the left under the display a couple of times and it takes the disc in and goes to Stereo SACD...
T