Why don't CD players have remote power on/off capability? (1 Viewer)

[Steve Russell]

This may have been mentioned before but it really irritates me. My cheapie pioneer DVD player can be turned on and off with the remote. Why can't CD players have the same capability? I have worked around it by leaving it powered up and having it plugged into the switched outlet on the back of my 2095 but... Why can't CD player manufacturers put a power button on the remote? Doesn't seem like a real complicated request but maybe there are issues that I am not aware of. Please enlighten me if there are issues besides cost.

 

[Charles J P]

I'm really not sure. I dont even know if really expensive ones do? I am curious if anyone knows if there's any rhyme or reason.

 

[ChrisMatson]

Uhhh...my Sony 400 CD changer can be turned on and off with the remote. Maybe it a brand-specific thing?

 

[Matt Heebner]

My Sony 5 disc player has a hard button on/off. Really is irritating when I dont feel like getting off the couch to listen to music.

Matt

 

[RicP]

Why don't you just leave the player on? My Sony XA777ES has a hard power button too, but I leave it powered on at all times. It's better for the player and it's more convenient.

 

[Charles J P]

It's better for the player

Ummmm... it is?

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Ummmm... it is?

In theory, it is. Keeping the circuitry warm and powered reduces the wear they would experience with power-ups. I usually turn my system off when I leave for work and power it back up when I get home. It stays on when I am home.

Bruce

 

[Ryan L B]

My cheap $139 Phillip-Magnavox has one where you press a red potton and it goes into standby mode where it just shows the time after you take it out of standby mode which is a pain in the ass.

 

[RicP]

Ummmm... it is?

Absolutely. The one thing that kills any electronic gear the fastest is the tremendous rush of voltage into a cold circuit board. The constant heating up and cooling down is what will kill a component faster than anything else. Ok, maybe a glass of water will do it faster, but you get the idea.
Why do you think experts recommend that you leave your computer on? The same principles apply. Electronic gear operates its best at a constant temperature and when it's well warmed up. The only way to properly accomplish those is to leave the player powered on at all times.
The current draw at idle is miniscule at best.

 

[KeithH]

I don't know why manufacturers tend to leave out a standby mode (i.e., on/off via the remote) with CD players when they include it all the time with DVD players. The only CD players I have ever owned that have a standy mode are my Sony megachangers.

For the record, I leave my components turned off when I am not home. When I get home from work, I turn on components I plan to use that evening and allow them to warm up for a couple of hours before actually using them.

 

[Charles J P]

Why do you think experts recommend that you leave your computer on?

Dang, you beat me to it. I always thought that this "modern myth" had been dispelled after computers became more common. Do "experts" still really recommend this?

 

[shankar]

This is a big problem for me too. I hence plugged the CD player to the back of my reciever where there are two switched outlets that will be switched on only when the reciever is powered on. So, wheneever I turn on/off my reciever , my CD player turns on/off too.

 

[Selden Ball]

Charles,

Yes, experts really do recommend leaving computers on, but it depends on the duty factor. If a computer is on most of the day, then turning it off each night is not a good idea. Fluctuating thermal stress causes failures and so does overheating.

The average consumer with just a few pieces of equipment won't notice the problem: so something fails after a year or two of power cycling. Except that it might have lasted several more years if kept on at a constant low temperature.

The effect is *very* noticable and a major PITA for sites with a large number of electrical items. The colder they're kept, the longer they last. The more freqently they're cycled, the sooner they fail. Of course, you can't predict when a particular item will fail, but the different rates of failure among a large number of them is certinaly noticable.

 

[Lewis Besze]

I certainly have it on My Pioneer Elite Pd-54.

I don't keep it on though if I don'r have to.

I tunr it on with my Pronto along with the desired componenets.

While a CD player won't suck much powre at iddle,my 8 power amps would.The Mackie M-1200 can use 75w at idle and I have 2 of them!

 

[Ron Reda]

My Musical Fidelity A3 CDP has a hard power button, but no "on/off" button on the remote. I tend to agree with RicP in that all components should stay on. The "power on" process is the thing that wears components down the most and shortens their life span (think of a car). These components were designed to perform operations at a certain temperature and that temperature is only achieved once the component has warmed up. In fact, in addition to my MF A3 CDP, I leave my Denon 3802 on all the time. The only things I turn off are my Sony sat receiver and my TV (my DVDP automatically powers down after a pre-determined time period).

 

[ChrisMatson]

The little green button is my power On/Off.

 

[Lawrence]

There is a reason most use a hard on/off button, and you mentioned it already Steve. It is done so that the when plugged into the outlet on the back of the receiver, the CD player goes on and off concurrently. Therefore, you need push the power button once for both components to come on. It makes sense since you rarely would turn on your CD player without turning on the receiver!

By the way, I wondered this for sometime too until a friend of mine who works at a high-end retailer explained the reasoning.

 

[Martin Rendall]

So, players are designed to be turned on and off via. the power cable plugged into the receiver? I've always been wary of plugging anything into my receiver to power on and off, for fear of strange power spikes or what-have-you.

Martin.

 

[Yohan Pamudji]

My Marantz CC4000 only has a hard power button on the faceplate and none on the remote. BUT there's a discrete on/off code that I've programmed into my RC5000 remote that takes care of that. It's strange that an on/off signal would exist for a component without having a physical button for it anywhere.

 

[Ray R]

ChrisMatson,

How long have you had the Sony 400 disc changer and how do you like it? Can a pronto be programed to take place of the sony remote?

I've been seriously considering this as my next purchase.