I would have been far too intimidated to attempt that fix. Great job pal! I am inspired and will look for an audio project at home for the weekend.

Trey

I figured I had nothing to lose. The transport was originally VERY expensive and sounded very good in my system. The failure was mechanical. I did some internet research and found the drawer gear assembly was feared for its habit of failing as the gear itself was cheap plastic and didn't fit very well. Theta was not going to repair it, my local repair places said now way, so I tracked the parts and ordered them on E-Bay.

The dis-assembly was pretty easy though I needed to remove the entire drawer assembly to fix it as the gear was under the thing.

So, the tray worked and I feel confident I could do it again.

If the failure had been electronic, I would not have been able to fix it and it would be in my dumpster. I am thinking of buying more spare parts as the Transport, when I opened it, had obviously been repaired for the same problem before. The screws had been removed and one was stripped.

Any time you can fix something, you win.

Thanks for the "word up" on that Theta transport. I've seen them for sale on Audiogon and have thought about getting one. That model is now off my list.

I am VERY satisfied with the transport, just surprised at the single cheesy part used (and identified as a problem early) without replacement by a well made gear. The sound is better than any CD player I have used in my system, way better. It is better than my IMac/Pure Music setup through the same DAC. I just need to replace a defective part now and again, a pain in the butt but less complicated than say, setting up a new phono cartridge.

I would highly recommend the transport, just then go and buy a few $10 spare gear and belt assemblies.

Also, today's Theta gear has little do do with gear manufactured 16 years ago. They also offer a good trade up program I believe.

I'll keep it under consideration. Where do I get the parts from?

After I confirmed the actual drive type (CDM9PRO) I simply went to E-Bay and searched. I was surprised so many new gears were for sale and how cheaply. I bought two (shipped from Hong Kong) received them in 10 days and installed one. Once I assured myself they were in fact the right parts, I ordered two more. I figure that is likely to give a good decade or so service and at my age, that is all I need.

I hope this transport will be my last. The real action is in DAC's today and the software for computer based systems is fast approaching the quality of sound I get from the CD but at a higher resolution.

I say again, the transport sounds great and the inside of the machine shows first class build, with the exception of the cheesy drawer gear. As you can find these things for $3-400 and as they sound much better than anything close to that price I have heard, I consider them a bargain.