Rega Saturn no longer reads CD's

I did experience a similar issue with my Rega, the problem was apparently associated to the ribbon cable connector to the laser, although it had been opened several times for various 'enhancements' which quite possibly contributed to the inability of the drive to recognise the presence of an inserted disc.

The solution is very simple, take it to an authorised Rega service centre who will, (assuming that the issue is in fact as noted above), replace the entire laser and ribbon cable assembly which is a simple, quick and quite low cost job as the mechanism is a rather rudimentary and inexpensive Sanyo component.

I found the result was a HUGE improvement in all aspects of the players performance (even prior to it becoming noticeably selective of which discs it would play) !

YMMV, however I feel that this machine is well worth spending a reasonable amount of money on to repair or 'enhance' ;-)

Coolhand, thanks for the response. I will check this out. It makes good sense given the fact that the transport seems to be operating without any problem. By the way, what enhancements did you have done? I would be interested, if you found that they improved the performance of the player. Thanks again.

Glad to hopefully be of help !

I employed a few relatively simply, yet incredibly effective 'devices' to the Saturn which cumulatively resulted in truly phenomenal improvement to the already excellent machine.

Other than the Terra Firma 'enhancement' linked to below, I also installed Bybee filters on both the live and neutral a/c line input and Lundahl Amorphous core output transformers which feed the line outputs DIRECTLY from the onboard dacs (which additionally have individual ultra high quality power supply de-coupling caps added).

The player itself is supported by three Boston Audio 'Tune Blocks' using tungsten carbide bearings, sitting on a fully magnetically levitated platform which itself is mounted on a constrained layer rack of my own design.

I power my source components from an isolated, symmetrical a/c, parallel choke filtered 'power station' of my own specification which in conjunction with the transformed outputs, enables the Saturn to be truly galvanically isolated from the rest of the system.

Individually the steps taken above provided readily apparent improvements to aspects of the musical delivery, together the final resulting benefits are FAR more than the sum total of them !

http://www.AudioAsylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=digital&m=142994

These recurring problems with the Rega Apollo/Saturn is the reason I've kept my Planet 2000.

I've not experienced a single issue since having the transport and ribbon cable replaced, which is getting close to twelve months ago.
I think Rega quietly resolved any niggling issues sometime back.