Piano M1 skipping

EzraS · « **on:** 12 Aug 2011, 02:10 am »

I have greatly enjoyed my Piano m1 cd player for a year and a half. Today it began to skip randomly during play. I have read a post on AN indicating this is a problem known to Virtue and a remedy exists requiring a part replacement. If this is true I believe Virtue should contact unit owners before problems develop and offer to make the appropriate part replacement. Just my opinion.

tabrink · « **Reply #1 on:** 12 Aug 2011, 03:38 am »

EzraS
No worries

.. Virtue will get your Piano singing again. First thought that comes to my mind. I have heard of this and certainly would not expect a massive recall unless large numbers are failing.

Contact JasonT or Seth and they will fix you up.
No worries here!
Great company, great people who will stand behind their awesome products.
Best,
Tom

Jason T · « **Reply #2 on:** 12 Aug 2011, 07:34 pm »

Quote from: EzraS on 12 Aug 2011, 02:10 am

I have greatly enjoyed my Piano m1 cd player for a year and a half. Today it began to skip randomly during play. I have read a post on AN indicating this is a problem known to Virtue and a remedy exists requiring a part replacement. If this is true I believe Virtue should contact unit owners before problems develop and offer to make the appropriate part replacement. Just my opinion.

Your one of very few that have had an issue so its not common or in need of a recall.
Feel free to email me and we'll get it taken care of for you.
Jason@virtueaudio.com

eclein · « **Reply #3 on:** 12 Aug 2011, 08:53 pm »

I believe I was one that posted on AN about mine skipping but didn't mean to say it was a known issue, what I said is after explaining the problem to Camii she suggested we swap out a part and she in fact pegged the fix immediately. I thought that the customer service in this case and it also being the first issue I have had with any of my Virtue products in over a year was spot on and that was the message I meant to convey. I reread the post and see where you may have thought other wise, I'm working on my communication skills. No worries, they will do whatever they have to do to fix your Piano and if its the same problem its and easy fix, 10 minutes it took me because I wanted to do the swap myself because I have tons of free time. Its all good, runs ROCK solid now without a hitch.

virtue · « **Reply #4 on:** 14 Aug 2011, 04:16 am »

Ezra,

The piano uses a gravity-based transport that is sensitive to imbalances. It's not a defect, it's the design and it works well until it doesn't.

I'm not going to authorize production of the M2 until the transport satisfies a more serious battery of tests. I rejected the first M1 production entirely, causing a major uproar with my manufacturer. Had those shipped I'd have eaten $20k and they'd have rotted in my then NJ warehouse. But the transport WAS swapped prior to re-production and it performed well in tests here. So what you have, while not perfect, is actually the 2nd production.

Anyway, if performance degrades we'll swap the transport or help you fix it.

Also, we have a waiting list for the units and may be able to hook you up with a buyer if you want to get rid of it.

Just to be very clear, fewer than 5% of the units have had this problem. But it happens and most all of our customers are here online at some point or another.

Thanks for your patience,

Seth

Cheerwino · « **Reply #5 on:** 14 Aug 2011, 04:49 am »

Love my M1 Piano. Don't get why folks post a complaint or issue before contacting the retailer or manufacturer.

tabrink · « **Reply #6 on:** 14 Aug 2011, 05:03 am »

It just can not get any better than Seth!
xoxo
What a guy!
Brother.. you are on your way! Thanks for dragging me along with you.

virtue · « **Reply #7 on:** 14 Aug 2011, 05:13 am »

It's cool. I don't mind being held to a high standard. We must live up to our name every day.

Elizabeth · « **Reply #8 on:** 14 Aug 2011, 05:17 am »

As a casual reader, may I comment a normal CD player response to a hair in the works is random skipping.
All that may be wrong is an eyelash, or other short hair or bit of dust entered the player?
I always brush off my CDs and DVDs with a cosmetic blush brush i use just to keep bits of stuff out of my players.

virtue · « **Reply #9 on:** 14 Aug 2011, 05:27 am »

Elizabeth - thanks for the tip!

My guess is that this kind of thing does contribute to degradation, however, I'm reluctant to blame user error.

Some designs are more robust than others and you'd think that a transport would be fairly bullet-proof. The loader on the M1 is made by Sanyo. It is more robust than the Sony it replaced but not perfect. This has been a learning experience.

For the M2 I'm looking at loaders from the game player world. I figure if you can sell 1 billion video game players you can't have much margin for defects or skipping. The front-running loader is a slot-load like they have on the XBOX or in car consoles. Those things are ROBUST!

The transport serves no audio function - it reads pits in the disc. There's no voodoo here. A good transport should read flawlessly forever.

Cheerwino · « **Reply #10 on:** 14 Aug 2011, 02:49 pm »

Quote from: virtue on 14 Aug 2011, 05:27 am

The transport serves no audio function - it reads pits in the disc. There's no voodoo here. A good transport should read flawlessly forever.

Heresy! Burn him!! Burn him!!!

EzraS · « **Reply #11 on:** 14 Aug 2011, 10:21 pm »

Thanks for all your responses to my post. I am glad that the transport failure problem is limited and that Seth is looking to upgrade the transport in the new model cd player. THis is a forum to discuss Virtue's products including any problems. I know Seth has no difficulty with that. Virtue is not a sports team but a seller of high quality reasonably priced audio equipment. I check and clean my CDs before playing by the way. Sorry if anyone was offended by my post but the failure of my cd player to perform to it's previous high standard did disappoint me particularly in light of the post on AN which made me want to determine if anyone else was having problems with the unit. My Sensation continues to perform flawlessly and I will be following up with Seth and Jason re repairs to my Piano M1.

virtue · « **Reply #12 on:** 14 Aug 2011, 10:35 pm »

It's Aok!!! Pain felt. Cavalry on the way!! Seth

ben4 · « **Reply #13 on:** 15 Aug 2011, 04:14 pm »

Any other changes planned for the M2? Not sure how enthusiastic I am about a slot loading player.

(My first post—I was interested in the M1 and have been following the forum for news about a successor.)

--Ben

virtue · « **Reply #14 on:** 16 Aug 2011, 04:58 am »

Tell me more. Why not a slot load? Bullet-proof, no?

srb · « **Reply #15 on:** 16 Aug 2011, 05:04 am »

Quote from: virtue on 16 Aug 2011, 04:58 am

Tell me more. Why not a slot load? Bullet-proof, no?

I don't have a lot of experience with them, only the one in my car (which by the way is a 2000 model). But I have noticed some small surface scratches that it has caused. Some happened when the CD was not inserted perfectly parallel to the slot and others perhaps because I think the felt gasket has stiffened or hardened over time.

That's why I always felt (no pun intended) that the tray load was kinder to the disc, but I could be wrong. I do notice that slot load mechanisms are starting to become more popular and they may have gotten a lot better in the last decade.

Steve

WC · « **Reply #16 on:** 16 Aug 2011, 05:21 am »

Seth,

I have not had good luck with the drive in the Wii. You may want to tread lightly with that one.

virtue · « **Reply #17 on:** 16 Aug 2011, 05:22 am »

Good to know! Thanks for the feedback. We'll do another round of acceptance testing before committing.

PDR · « **Reply #18 on:** 16 Aug 2011, 05:32 am »

I have no Virtue electronics, but from all I have read I see that they have a loyal fanbase and that usually
equates to a quality product. I do have some Virtue cables and ICs that I received from Jason when he was in Alberta a while back and I am very pleased with them.

I am just making a comment on slot loading players. I thought they were bullet proof as well until I purchased
a top loading unit (Raysonic) a few years ago.This is absolutely the best system that I have ever used.
No moving parts, just a magnetic puck and acrylic cover. It makes cleaning the lens a breeze and lets me know right away if theres a rotation problem.
Dont know if its an option.....just my 2 cents.

One day I see a Virtue amp in my future for my V-1s

ben4 · « **Reply #19 on:** 16 Aug 2011, 02:12 pm »

There are just too many reports of scratched disks with slot load drives for comfort. I should add that this is not something I've experienced personally—the only slot load I use is on my computer, and I haven't noticed a problem with scratches there. But I don't use that drive much, (and even with minimal usage it failed after about 9 months—new iMac, quickly replaced under warranty). I haven't had a chance to see how the new drive is treating disks.

--Ben