Cambridge Soundworks CD-740 Clock Radio - Answered Questions & Fixed issues

I had 2(!!) CDs stuck in transport. The firmware reset will NOT work as this is a physical space issue. As the eject device was attempting to spit out the cd, there was hope. Grab a credit card or similar sized object and a length of packing tape sufficient to wrap both sides of the card. While pressing the eject button, attempt to catch the cd face with the tape and pull gently out. In my case i had twins as the first cd came out with the card, tape combo followed by the second cd ejected by the drive. Fixed and extremely happy...

To the left of the display are two buttons, engraved "1" and "2". (Note, I'm NOT referring to the buttons for radio presets, which are below.) Hold either of these buttons for a second or two to enter alarm set mode. The screen prompts will prompt you to set the time for the alarm to go off using the time set buttons to the right of the display. You can also press one of the radio preset buttons or the AUX or CD buttons to wake to one of those. Once you're done setting the alarm, quick presses of these alarm buttons turn the alarm on and off and choose between music and beeper. As a side note, if you've installed the backup battery and the power fails during the night, the alarm will still go off with the beeper so you're not late for work -- a thoughtful touch from Cambridge Soundworks.

change your batteries if it has any if that don't work your gears inside are getting slightly worn if clock meens lots to you . you can always buy cheap motors for it at Michels.good luck

ok - whats the question?

I believe the problem is either a faulty light sensor the unit has to dim the display when the lights dim since it was designed for bedroom use with alrms and snooze button. or it is simply a failure in the circuit that drives the LCDs. Mine has been dim for a long time but I can still see just enough to adjust the sound settings. I tune and set stations by sound. so the display has not been an issue since we do not use it for a clock or alarm. I doubt there is a fix for the dim display.

My unit quit working when I moved it to another room after playing an hour or so. I read where replacing the power cord may fix that problem. where can I purchace a replacement cord?

See my answer to cd740 sound cutting out. Fuse is inside near the transformer. You'll need to disassemble. There is a good write up for a question about getting to the faceplate. Briefly, there is a sub base that has screws hidden behind the rubber feet pads which peel off easily. The front speaker grills PPP off easily and it hides some screws. The rear plate also has to come off. Check those other questions, the answers will help.

its been a yr since you asked so not sure you still care. Just in case, I had same problem so took the whole thing apart to see if I could find the problem since it was not dirt in the headphone jack as someone suggested. It happened no matter what was playing - radio or an aux device. After bitching to CSW about no longer supporting these, the tech said to unplug from AC power, press the "on" button 10 times slowly, let it stay off a minimum of 2 hrs, then plug in and press and hold the CD eject button next to the CD slot - release after the it displays "CD Reset" - I did this before disassembly and it did nothing - after 2 more tries, I took unit apart to inspect inards - it\'s a royal pain to get it all apart - screws every where - I found a tip that there are screws under the rubber feet pads, which removes a bottom plate, then there are 6 or more screws in the exposed bottom, and more behind the front speaker grills - finally the the top can be removed, gotta use care to note location of all the cable connections as the disassembly progresses. Finally open, it is somewhat disappointing to see only circuit boards will little notation and hard to view components - but I did not see any signs of shorts or damage, no burn marks - no raw wire from rubbing. All looked fine. I finally saw the fuse on the red wire going to the transformer - there is little space to access it and the wires are pulled so tight there is no slack to remove the transformer without cutting the wires. I was no ready to cut them so I followed the red wire and saw it was held tight by some hot glue. I carefully pried off the glue and peeled it from the wire. I was then able to pull the red wire up by the transformer just enough to use a needle nose plier to grab the fuse holder and unscrew it. After all this I checked the fuse continuity and it tested ok! I replaced it with a bit higher rated fuse just in case and I pulled on the spring to extend it just a bit so ensure it maintained good contact with the fuse - it does make reassembling the fuse holder a bit difficult since there is so little slack - probably easier to just cut the red wire someplace where it will be easy to splice in a short patch. I plugged in all the cables as I reassembled the unit - except for the snooze button since we do not use the alarms. when back together I did the rest again when I plugged in the power and to my dismay, after hours of tedious work, it behaved exactly the same - cutting out frequently. I unplugged it and left it as I searched for a mini-amp to convert it to a speaker dock for my iPhone. Today, 3 days later on a whim, I plugged it back in and did the reset and the darn thing is working perfectly again! Wish I knew exactly why - maybe just being unplugged for a few days was enough for the reset to work or maybe somehow fiddling with the wires and cables as I reassembled the final sections fixed something that was coming loose. I use the radio daily for my NPR fix so we\'ll see how long it works.

I spent $300 for the thing 10 yrs ago, then paid$125 for a display repair, now its crapping out repetitively and I refuse to pay ungodly sums to repair it again only to have the next thing fail in a few yrs. So, I plan to gut mine and convert to a speaker dock for my iPhone - small mini-amps are under $50 now. I plan to leave the speakers in the case since they are properly ported and sound great as is. I'll pull the speaker wires out the back and mount the amp on top - might not look pretty but it'll work just fine and some of these little amps have FM tuners, SD card readers and remotes. won't be as elegant but it'll sound good.

I just had the same problem and called tech support (800) FOR HIFI at Cambridge Soundworks for help. All you have to do is unplug the radio for 30 minutes and then reconnect - kind of like rebooting a computer.

Mine is dim also. Apparently sending it in for repair is not an option.Unfortunately, the CD740 radio has reached end of service life. Parts are no longer available & we cannot repair them. We apologize for any inconvenience. If you need further assistance, please call us at -800-367-4434, Monday - Friday 9AM to 6PM central time. -- Best Regards,Cambridge SoundWorksSales and Support

This is due to a failure of the power to the diisplay section which could have been caused by the power failure. so you need to check the power to the conttrol panel and to the display section. A possible damage to the display driver also cannot be ruled out.
Look for any fusible resisitors that have opened out or changed in value, use a multimeter to check the power supply and the feed to the board.

I just did this over the weekend, so, I'll expand on how to get there.

1. Pop off the speaker covers.
2. There are 4 screws on each side (not the speaker screws, the recessed screws). Remove those from each side.
3. On the back of the unit, there are 4 more recessed screws. You'll need to remove those, and separate the back from the unit (you may have to disconnect some of the wire connectors).
4. Flip the unit over (so the bottom is up). Remove the screws from the bottom, and remove that base. Note: you'll need to remove all the foot-pads as well (there is a screw under each).
5. Once you've removed that, you'll need to then remove the next set of screws from the "sub bottom" I believe there were 8 that need to be removed.
6. Carefully flip the unit over (you can put the "base" back on without the screws so it sits right).
7. At this point, you'll need to remove the top cover. You'll have to pry away at this one a bit, but it wasn't too hard. There is a connector for the snooze/mute button that I disconnected to make it easier once the cover was open.
8. Once the top cover is off, you'll see the CD player. There are two screws holding the CD player to the faceplate. Remove those.
9. There are three screws on the back of the cd player. Remove those, and you can maneuver the CD player at that point (I didn't need to take mine all the way out, as I just needed to get a quarter out of the player).

Then... gently reassemble. This is not an easy machine to tear apart by any means. Took me about an hour and a half to do it all (but I was also doing some trial and error).

Good luck! And be careful!

Hello
The CDs you inseting is not loading properly into the mechanism. Check its loading belt. If loading belt is loose, thie tyep of fault will occur. Check the loading motor also. If the pulling power of loading motor go less, the discs will not load properly and will ejected out as it loaded into. There is no other possiblilities other than this to check. OK.

The two most likely causes for those symptoms are a dirty laser lens, or a dying drive motor.

hi, your power cord might just get defective.test them by wiggling the cord while it is plug inn see if it power on then stops.the cut must just about 5 inches from the plug of your radio.you can just replace the plug or replace the whole cord..thank you and good luck!

In the unit where you insert the cd.Inside there is a lens.And this lens reads the cd.If this lens assembly gets faulty or there is dusty got stuck up on the lens then it will not be able to read or detect the cd.the cd gets detected when the lens see the cd.But if the lens is faulty or dusty then it will not be able to detect the cd and the message "DISK" or "NO DISK" come up.I agree that you used compressed air to clean the dust from the unit.But if the dust is got stuck up hard and if its not getting blow away by compress-air then the lens is covered by dust.So first the lens has to be cleaned manually and checked if the unit starts reading cd.If not then its a faulty lens assembly and it has to be replaced,by local cd/dvd player repair center.The lens is made up of glass and its very delicate part in the unit and can get cracked very easily if any kind of force is applied on the unit externally or while cleaning the lens.So get it done carefully.Also the lens can be cleaned by lens cleaner liquid or by dry tissue paper.Take care nothing gets remain on lens.Also many times while cleaning the lens a finger print marks get remain on it and this makes lens to read the cd blurry.--------This should help.Thanks.Helpmech.

Press the time adjust buttons on the right of the display.

You can download the entire user's manual from here:
http://download.cambridgesoundworks.com/manuals/soundworks_radio_cd_740.pdf

I really like these radios, by the way, and have 1 of the radios w/out CD, 2 with the CD and one of the HD radio's. I'm one of those people that needs multiple alarms to get up so I set several of them to turn on at different times in the morning and it works great!
I have had this problem twice and I've unplugged the unit then after I plug it back in I hold down the CD eject button while I turn it back on. The display then says something like "CD Reset" and it resets the CD mechanism to the beginning of the cycle. This moves the CD holder to the correct position. (I assume the problem is due to the CD positioning device stopping in the wrong place after it ejects a CD, for whatever reason)
I hope this helps. Mine did the same thing with no CD inside.
I listen to the radio a lot, and by having these in several rooms, I can listen to radio without having to have it turned up super loud when I am walking around the house. I also use this at the High School where I am a science teacher. It produces enough quality audio to fill the classrooms with music or playing podcasts of "Science Friday."

Have same problem. Cheap company, no POC phone number in handbook, no address.