Bose CD skipping in the cold
 

I remember how much of a pain in the *** this was last year... I could barely stand playing CDs in my $1000 stereo because they'd skip so bad. Has there been any headway made in finding a fix for this problem? I'd like to get it fixed before the temperature drops too much more.

-Nate

There is nothing you can do to avoid this problem. There are several reasons. When you start your cd player I bet your cd's play fine. After a few min. though I bet it starts to skip, right? The reason is simple-Condensation. As your cd player heats up from the amplifier your cd and the lens begin to condensate. The lens should be less of the problem than the cd. One way to avoid problems is to turn on the radio first and wait a few minutes for things to warm up. Bring your cd's inside too when you leave the car if possible. This does not guarantee that you will be problem free though, but it should limit your problems. I hope this helps

who wants to sit there and take all 6 out and in everyday all winter long? i hope this doesn't happen.

I have owned three different cars w cd players. It happened in all of them. There is nothing you can really do to avoid the problem. I lied-let the car warm up before using the cd player or turn on the radio and wait 5-10 min before using the cd player. Sometimes science "sucks."

maybe a discman and 10 disc changer under a seat are different (not being near an amp) bu they never skipped for me. but they were close to the heater. guess i'll have to make a tape to listen to until the cd warms up.

I've had in-dash and trunk-mounted changers and I never had an issue with skipping CDs. I haven't gone through a winter with this Maxima but I hope it's just some freakish thing and not the norm for all the cars... because that would suck... :)

A discman can't generate the kind of heat that a HU amp creates. The cd changer also can't create enough heat to cause this problem. There is no amp in a cd changer to create heat either. I too have never had an issue with a discman or cd changer in the cold for the above reasons. They simply don't generate enough heat fast enough to cause condensation on the cd and lens.

Wait wait... I thought you said before that this was condensation on the player/lens... now you're saying it's not? I'm confused. :)

It is a combination of the lens and the cd. It depends how hot the HU amp gets and how fast it happens. If it happens rather fast it will be both the lens and cd. The lens will "dry out" faster than the cd because of laws of thermodynamics.

I had this problem last winter but had the CD player replaced this summer for another issue and, so far, it hasn't skipped at all. It's been down to 25 or so a couple of nights already and it was skipping when it was below 50 before so things look good. Maybe this is something they've resolved in the newly manufactured players...

A number of people have had their CD changers replaced due to this issue. My first winter with the car it didn't skip at all. Even when it was -30C it played fairly well.

Now my changer has started skipping in the mornings. The temperature isn't even down to freezing most mornings and it skips like crazy.

I'll be calling my dealership to have a new changer ordered in. Its not normal behaviour for the equipment to skip. I don't expect flawless performance at -30C or -40C. But a bit of frost in the morning shouldn't mean I can't use my CD player.

CM.

I leave mine parked in the garage at all times, when I leave the temperature says 65 and it still skips. Its been driving me nuts lately.

The CD player in my 2000 Max w/ Bose never skipped. Never. Not once. And that's exactly what I expect when I pay $1000 just for the audio system in my car. It is totally unacceptable that I can't play CDs for 5 months out of the year.

When it starts happening again, I'll bring the car into my dealership... glad to hear others have had it fixed.

-Nate

Cold IS coimng again. Wait until your heated seats take 15 minutes to get warm!

It's 32 degrees (F) right now around here and I was listening to the CDs all the way up from work... not a single skip.

If i switch cd's when i first get in the car it skips, but if i continue to listen to the same cd i turned the car off with it usually doesn't. But the skipping can get very frustrating.

Reply to the post about not skipping if you don't change CDs
 

Same here.

My BOSE HU skips at a huge rate in the mornings when it's slightly above freezing (32 degrees F). Only for a few minutes, then once the car warms up, it's usually okay. If I change discs too quickly, it'll do it again for a few seconds, but then stop.

The reason it doesn't skip as much or at all in the mornings if you don't change tracks or CDs from when the car was shut off is because the anti-shock memory is still valid and the car is reading the music from there.

The skipping is still occurring, but the live audio you are hearing is memory based so you don't hear it, until you change tracks, thus clearing the anti-shock memory and the music being live off the disc, making the skip return.

I am currently fighting the "bose left channel cut out" problem that only occurs in the CD mode. Beautiful right up on it, I shall tackle it next weekend when I have a day I can dedicate to make CDs sound awesome again.

I am also going to try and clean the laser up with some alcohol or lens cleaner while I have the unit open. Maybe that'll help with the skipping a little bit. I'll keep this forum updated if it helps.