How old is your CD player? (1 Viewer)

[Jim Swantko]

I have my Marantz CD-63 SE from about 1997 - I love it and will probably keep it so long as it has the power to spin a disk.

 

[Andy Goldstein]

still have my Sony D5 from 1984! still works, although i have not used it in a while. it's logged several thousand miles in an assortment of cars on a home-made mount (there were very few commercial mounts available back then), and many hours in a bag on my hip while i mowed the yard wearing a set of Koss pro4AA 'phones.

ag.

 

[Chet_F]

I just recently replaced my Harvey cd player. I bought it many years ago froma pawn shop for $35. I know it's old but have no idea how old. Anyone else ever heard of this brand?

I replaced it with a Onkyo DX-C390 6 disc carousel a week ago. Santa was very nice to me this year. It's a great player!!

 

[brentl]

Sony cdpc-445(345-445 I forget), bought it about 10 years ago, but rarely used. Actually I just hooked it back up after almost 4 years in a box.

It was Sony's best value at the time and offered optical output which wasn't common in midrange units at the time .

Brent

 

[Neil Regitz]

I have a Sony CDP-X55ES that I purchased in 1990. It works great and still sounds incredible.

 

[BruceD]

Michael and Dan,

Not to deter you from purchasing anything specifically, but I'd say the trend is probably going towards hard disk (PC-like) storage of CD music (lossless compression not MP3) on a server with a network access (100MB Ethernet or wirelss) connection to the stereo/HT system. The PC server can even be a old P3 based machine.

At this point (IMO) you might start thinking about this route before spending money on a new CD player.

 

[Chu Gai]

Lot to be said for that Bruce.
Yes. Those are the coupling capacitors in the analog outs. Its not unknown for people to critically compare analog vs digital and ascribe the differences to DACs when in reality it's the capacitors that have lost their rated values.

 

[Chet_F]

"but I'd say the trend is probably going towards hard disk (PC-like) storage of CD music (lossless compression not MP3) on a server "

I'd need a 426GB hard drive and at least one more for the ever expanding collection. 400GB drives cost $330. I think I'll wait for when the terabyte drives cost $200. Can't wait for that day to come around.

 

[Wes]

My BSR CD player is 19 years old and still going strong!

One of my DVD players (Panny A300) is going on 8 years and still works great!

Wes

 

[Michael Colby]

Bruce,

I agree. The hard drive based playback system is the wave of the future. We'll see more and more of this as the prices continue to fall.

 

[Chu Gai]

I don't have much more information other than determining what the FR of the CD player is while paying special attention to the low bass area. If there's a problem, like a roll-off, you either get around it by running digital out or replacing the capacitors which are usually electrolytics. The thing is, there's no hard and fast rule that states that electrolytics are to be avoided at all costs. The deterioraton of a cap's rated value can be due to excessive heat, time, or that a particular vendor's lot number just happened to go south quicker than another lot. So if you determine you've got a problem based on the unit failing its specs, you ought to have a device that can measure the capacitance or just outright replace them with the same values in which case you can spend a little more and get polypropylene ones.
If I can dig up a schematic or an inside picture illustrating this, I'll post it.

 

[BruceD]

Michael,

By the way, I do own a 5-disk carousel (Parasound 1500) that is really quite good (it offers various digital output options), but I currently use the analog output. I compared the CD-player's analog outputs to the CD-player's coax-digital outputs to an external $1k DAC and couldn't tell any difference after an extended 30-day trial.

I do like the option of selecting songs via remote from more than a single CD, which is why a PC-based server of lossless compressed sources sounds good to me.

 

[Scott Andrew]

Hitachi CD DA-1000, was purchased brand new in 1983 for the amazing price of $499.99 (still got the reciept) It has been through three family members to get to me but people are still amazed at the vertical loading, it loads like a casette deck... It still works great, But it's HUGE!

 

[Romar Armas]

I got my Sony 5 Disc Carousel in 1991 and it's still working great. For some reason Sony didn't include a remote with it. No matter, I have the Pronto and just took the IR codes from remote central.

 

[FeisalK]

Someone's selling a Sony CDP-101 (1982, the world's first commerical CD player)... should I buy it?

 

[PaulDA]

If it's not too expensive and you have the cash, why not? (assuming it still functions). I never owned one but my local public library received four of them as a donation in early 1983. I spent hours listening to the limited CD collection they had through that machine and a decent pair of Sennheiser headphones. I was 15 and thought CDs were the greatest things ever (no popping and clicking, skip to the track you want, great sound--probably had as much to do with the phones as with the medium, but I was a total audio newbie, what did I know?). I wanted a CD player ASAP--took me three years. I remember telling my friends about CD and they gave me the same looks I get from them today when I talk about hi-res audio. Maybe they're wrong again today? Anyway, those listening sessions put me on the path to being a serious audio lover. Ah, what heady days.

 

[dany]

Havent had a cd as long as i've had a dvd player,7-8 years. I do still have one of the first vcr's,a pop up.

 

[FeisalK]

Paul, in the pic on the auction page (Yahoo) the CDP-101 looks, er... shiny not like a 22+ y.o machine. I guess they don't make them like they used to either

 

[John Alvarez]

I still have Fisher that I bought in 1983. It's in the garage with one of the first Kenwood surround recievers. It's perfect for when I'm washing the truck etc...

 

[Jeremy_R]

Onkyo DX-C390 purchased a little over a month ago. It's so nice to have a dedicated CD changer.