Boo Hoo! My Sony MDS-JA555ES minidisc deck goes in for repair tomorrow. :o( (1 Viewer)

[Cary P]

Keith,

Sorry to hear about your problems in trying to get your ES minidisc player serviced. I bought a Sony SCD-333ES SACD player for $399 during the recent GoodGuys blowout and am enjoying it very much. So far so good, but hearing your story gives me shudders whenever I think about all of the moving parts and the clunking and clanging in the carousel mechanism of the 333ES.

What is really unacceptable about your situation, is that they actually damaged your unit beyond what it was when you took it in - even though you bent over backwards to prevent just such a thing from happening. What kind of explanation has Sony given you about the dent they put in your unit and the substandard packaging when they shipped it back to you? To me, that should be grounds for a refund right there - even if they WERE able to fix the original problem.

I'm thinking I might as well go ahead and get some mod's done to my 333ES because it seems as if the Sony ES 5 year warranty is just about worthless, judging by the treatment Sony gave to your minidisc player.

I'm very disappointed to hear about your experience with Sony, and will definitely avoid their products in the future. Hopefully, this matter will somehow be resolved to your satisfaction.

Cary

 

[Rachael B]

I read on a thread on this forum sometime, someplace, proably somewhere over the rainbow , that CR-R's lose their refectivity and thusly program content over time. If this is true, I'm glad I'm archieving vinnyl on MD. I don't know how "permanent" MD recordings are, but I presume they're going to last longer than recorded CD's.
Phillip, when I compare original CD's to the MD copy using the same D/A converter, you can tell the MD has just slightly less detail. It's very slight. It certainly doesn't bother me. My music listening isn't a constant, critical evaluation of percieved sound quality. MD rulz in my book, especially when I'm out jogging to the hits with my tiny portable.
Hang in there keith!

 

[KeithH]

Thanks for the support, all. I spoke to a manager at Sony today. Unfortunately, she said Sony does not buy back components. Furthermore, she said that only a technician can deem a component as defective beyond repair and worthy of being replaced with a new unit. That has not happened yet. The folks at Bristol screwed up the player, but they did not deem it irreparable. Since I have made it clear that I am dissatisfied with the service at Bristol, the manager asked me to send the 'JA555ES to Sony's repair center in Boston. She claims that she is in constant contact with the manager of that facility. She recommended that I FedEx the player to the manager at Boston (at Sony's expense), who will look after the repair personally. She also asked that I include a letter with the player that explains in detail everything that needs to be repaired. This is basically what I did the second time I took the player to Bristol, but maybe I will have better luck with the Boston facility. In any event, I am going to ship the player to Boston next week.

In all of this, Sony has thrown me one bone that resembles a hint of customer service. Since I have been inconvenienced mightily by this situation, the manager has put six months back on my warranty, restoring it to the full five years (I bought the deck six months ago). That's not such a big deal at this point, obviously, but she didn't have to do that. I'm still pissed with the situation, but I have nothing to lose by shipping the player to Boston. Either it will be fixed properly this time or I will raise holy hell with the manager. If Boston handles the repair work no better than Bristol, maybe, just maybe, Sony will see things my way.

By the way, I am still working on buying a brand new Pioneer Elite MJ-17D. I am also researching the Tascam unit further.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Philip- Another downside to MD is that it's not as easy as with CD (CD-R/RW) to transfer tracks to a PC, do editing, sound shaping, whatever, and then transfer back to MD.

Yes, as I posted earlier, this inconvenience is a good reason that the record companies and music producers should love MD.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Rachel- The time frame for a CD-R losing it's reflectivity is:
100-150 yrs for the one type.
And, upwards of 300 years for another.
(I still don't know all the combinations of gold and silver backing metal, and all the dyes yet.)
Check out www.cdrfaq.org. And then there's also a very nice primer on Link Removed about CD-R/RW stuff.
(I tried to make dang sure that before I made the decision to switch from MD to CD-R/RW, that I could know as much as possible! )
And in fact, I would suspect that MDs have the same problem, except that we don't hear about it because it's a proprietary format, and not as "open" technology-wise as CD/R-RW.
Michael- I have only burned 2 discs with the HHB, but haven't listened to them yet for "quality control". But so far, very easy to use.
Dude, I also looked at the Tascam too. In fact, the Tascam was my 1st choice because I have a Tascam DAT deck I really, really like! But, I switched to HHB based on many comments from many different people (on the web as well as at 2 different musician supply stores I went to locally).
a) HHB is more widely respected for pro use (CD-R). I kept getting the comment that the D-A converters in the HHB are really good. (I am 95% sure that HHB get's the insides from Pioneer. Pioneer uses Burr Brown DACs which are said to be among the best there are. Strangely, Pioneer machines also consistently test well for jitter, for what it's worth.)
b) The Tascam has problems with running too hot. Stops burning, poor burns, etc. This is from a couple of users.
c) The HHB came out about a year after the Tascam, so it has that amount of industry-wide learning incoporated. (That's touchy feely, but because of that...) The HHB has CD Text capability, the Tascam doesn't.
CD Text on the HHB made me feel right at home transitioning from MD which also has that capability.
Yup, Purple! A subtle shade though... Goes well with my gray Tascam DAT deck!
The only thing that bothers me about the HHB, is that it only weighs 6 lbs. I think the Tascam is at least 50% more than that. (A component's weight *can* be a measure of how well it's built, quality, etc.)
Oh, and if you want a suggestion for a place to get a good price, lemme know!!

 

[Rachael B]

Thank you Kevin! I wanted to know about this. Best wishes!

 

[KeithH]

Matthew, I am considering the Tascam deck. Oade Bros. sells it for $415. I have not heard back from the seller of the Pioneer Elite MJ-17D, so maybe it is time to consider other options. As for the Denon DMD-1000, I found it on Full Compass's web site (pro audio dealer), but when I called, I found out that they no longer have it. It has been discontinued, so it is getting more difficult to find. A search for the Denon deck on mysimon.com shows that several dealers still have it for $400-500, but none of them are authorized dealers, so I feel a bit uneasy buying from them. I certainly don't want a refurb. or anything. Also, while I have no doubt that the Denon deck is good, it is an older model, so I question what version of ATRAC it uses. Regardless, your claim of MDs on this deck sounding so close to CD is encouraging.

I agree that if the Sony 'JA555ES is ever repaired, I may keep it as a spare. Sort of a show-off piece in the cabinet. If it is replaced with a 'JA333ES, I may keep the 'JA333ES as a spare since it is a Sony deck.

 

[MichaelP]

Kevin - Thanks for the brief review. I have a HK CDR20 for about a year and half now that has given me good service so far, but I wanted a pro unit to bypass SCMS as well as use the cheaper computer grade media. I have only spoken to Jim Oade about it so far and he recommended it if I was mainly dealing with digital sources, otherwise I should go with the new Sony pro unit for analog sources because of the DSP it has for analog. Are there better places to check for the HHB's.

Thanks

 

[KeithH]

Michael, you didn't say how much Oade Bros. quoted you for the HHB recorder, but samash.com has the HHB CDR 830 for $500:
http://www.samash.com/frameset.asp
Hope that helps.

 

[Kevin T]

keith:
found a pioneer elite mj17d at audiogon:
Link Removed
kevin t

 

[KeithH]

Kevin, thanks for the info. However, I would like to buy a brand new MD unit of some kind. I am still hoping to buy the brand new MJ-17D from the dealer I found.

 

[Kevin T]

my mistake...if i run across anything i'll drop you a line. good luck with the 555.

kevin t

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Michael- After reading about Keith's problems with his Sony ES MD unit, I simply cannot believe that you would consider a Sony pro CD-R/RW unit!
Oh, I got my HHB 830 for $489. Free shipping too. And (I liked this even more than the free shipping), it was dropped shipped from HHB in LA. So I can tell myself that it's a brand spankin' new unit that hasn't been sitting on a dealer's shelf for 6 months.
www.cascademedia.net. Call them and ask for Frank. They also have a neat FAQ on their web site about Mitsui CD-R/RW's. Might be a little bit of fact mixed in with the marketing there...

 

[KeithH]

Thanks, Kevin.

 

[MichaelP]

Thanks Kevin for the information.

Kevin, I only mentioned the sony because of what Jim Oade was telling me about the sony and analog sources. I never was contemplating the Sony only HHB and the Tascam.

I guess I will be going for the HHb 830.

Thanks.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Matthew- I somewhat looked into the Marantz.
2 things turned me off: the innerds are not by Pioneer and I wanted those Burr Brown DACs, and Gary Davis from the DAT Store in LA had one, and said the HHB was a better value. He said that the Marantz was kind of cheap, and wasn't really used alot by the "Pro's" themselves. (I.e., recording studios.)
Heresay I know.
But I am not anti-Marantz either.
I am looking at their AV9200 to replace my current pre/pro. ...Whenever it shall come out.

 

[KeithH]

Update
I ordered a brand new Pioneer Elite MJ-17D minidisc deck from a dealer for $250 this morning. He had the deck on eBay a few weeks ago and got no bids, but I was able to track him down, and sure enough, he still had it. Hopefully I will get the deck soon. I'll post my thoughts when it arrives.
By the way, if anyone was thinking of asking, I am not sure if the dealer has any other MJ-17D decks available. Since I did not find the deck on a dealer web site, I don't want to give away his contact information. He may not appreciate getting requests for the deck from others. Sorry if I sound evasive, but please understand.

 

[KeithH]

Thanks, Matthew. I will.

 

[KeithH]

Update
The Pioneer Elite MJ-17D arrived today. Well, things got off to a most inauspicious beginning. I loaded my Miles Davis Kind of Blue pre-recorded MD, which is the one that I was playing in the 'JA555ES when the drawer got stuck. Much to my surprise, the display on the '17D kept flashing "TOC Reading". Sony MD decks read MDs instantly, so this was most disconcerting. Realizing that something wasn't right, I tried to eject the MD, but it wouldn't eject. I turned the player off and back on, and also to my surprise, the display read "MILES DAVIS". Go figure. I was able to eject the disc at this point, and some of the time, the deck read the MD, and others it did not. I then tried a Dave Brubeck Time Out pre-recorded MD and for some reason, the '17D seemed to like this one better. Then I tried two mixes, one on a Sony ES 74-minute MD and another on a Memorex 74-minute MD. The '17D read the Memorex MD fine but struggled with the Sony ES MD. I would say it read the Sony ES MD one out of ten tries.
Occasionally when the '17D couldn't read an MD, it would display "TOC Err S", which is a code that means that there is something wrong with the MD and I should try another, according to the manual. That's B.S. There is nothing wrong with any of my MDs. My Sony decks never have struggled with these MDs.
I was able to get the '17D to read the Sony ES MD after awhile, and I am listening to it as I type. In my opinion, it is no 'JA555ES, but that doesn't surprise me. Now, I will concede that I should give the '17D time to warm up some, as I did just take it out of the box. Maybe, and hopefully, that explains the problems I am having with the deck reading MDs. Unfortunately, I doubt it. On the plus side, the invoice the seller sent states that he has a 30-day money-back guarantee. I just might need it.
From a construction standpoint, I would say the '17D is a middle-of-the-road Pioneer Elite component. It does have rosewood sidepanels, which some lower-end Elite components lack. However, the '17D is a lightweight at around 12-13 lbs. It also lacks gold-plated inputs and outputs, has no detachable power cord (the non-Elite CLD-D406 LD player I once owned did), and has no coaxial digital output (optical only). To put it simply, the '17D is not built to the standard of my Elite PD-65 CD player, which carried the same retail price of $800 when they were in production. The PD-65 has a copper chassis, gold-plated RCA outputs, a coaxial digital output, and weighs 20 lbs.
So overall, I am not too impressed with the '17D. I will probably return it. And my MD sage continues...

 

[Martin Rendall]

Wow. Bummer. If you get the Sony back in good condition, would you just stick with that?

Martin.