Teac CD-recorder (1 Viewer)

[Rich Allen]

Has anyone tried out the Teac RW-D200 cd recorder. Sam's has it for $249. The price of audio blanks have come down enough, it may be worth it for a consumer deck. The price seems pretty good.

 

[Kevin P]

Personally I'd go with the Tascam deck over the Teac. It's made by the same company but the Tascam deck is a professional model which means it will accept the cheaper (computer) blank CD-Rs (the record companies don't get richer when you buy them) and isn't subject to SCMS restrictions.
I forget the model # but I think Oade Bros. carries them, and it isn't much more expensive than the consumer models.
KJP
(Edited for clarity)
[Edited last by Kevin P on July 17, 2001 at 11:16 AM]

 

[Rich Allen]

I've considered that one but it's about $500 or so, twice the price of the Teac and the Teac is a dual deck. I've been pricing Audio CD's lately and there isn't all that much difference in prices if you shop arround and get them in bulk. SCMS isn't much of an issue as I want to just make compilations of discs I already have and to consolidate some in my changer. The only other thing I might do is dub some vinyl to CD. I really can't justify paying twice the price for the Tascam unless someone can tell me that the TEAC is a real dog.

 

[Burke Strickland]

While I have the Tascam CDRW700, have high praise for its performance and recommend it highly, it does cost about double what the Teac unit mentioned here goes for, even at Oade Bros. (which is where I bought my Tascam. I recommend them too.).
Also, the last time I checked (which was this past weekend) :>) the price difference between computer CD-Rs and "audio" CD-Rs has dropped dramatically. Whereas a year and a half ago, audio CD-Rs were about $3 a pop, and computer CD-Rs were about $1 each, today, it is more like $.80 vs. $.50, (depending on brand and bundle pricing, of course) meaning the cost advantage of using computer blanks is much less of an issue when compared against a significant difference of going-in price. (IOW, back then a $250 difference in deck price would have been made up in 125 discs; today it would be over 800.)
The SCMS issue is another matter. I hate the thought of making a disc of my own material (family members singing for grandma, for example) and then not being able to make copies from that disc to distribute among the family because of SCMS. The professional deck doesn't have that limitation. Whether that is worth the extra cost of buying the unit is an individual decision. (Of course, if the "master" is on MiniDisc, it is a moot point -- just keep copying CD-Rs from the MiniDisc.)
It appears the TEAC unit is designed for easy and fast CD to CD-R recording, being a double well unit with 2x recording between the CD-play and CD-R record trays. (I have no idea how this translates in terms of output quality.) The Tascam is a single well unit, requiring use of an external CD player. But I can use my CD carousel player and program a complilation very easily. Also, the professional unit is probably built more robustly than the consumer unit and can be expected to stand up to heavier use over a longer period.
But the TEAC does not appear to be optimized for recording from analog sources, although it does have analog inputs. One of the primary reasons I went with an external unit was for archiving LPs. The Tascam has separate recording level controls for analog and digital, among a number of features that make for successful high quality analog recordings.
So ultimately, the choice will depend on which features are really important, and how sensitive the decision is to price.
Burke
[Edited last by Burke Strickland on July 17, 2001 at 11:54 AM]

 

[Rich Allen]

Burke, you make some very good points about the differences, some I hadn't considered. Does the Tascam have a microphone input? I don't know if I can justify the price difference but it's some things I must chew on.
Thanks!