Sony Discontinues Scd-ce775 (1 Viewer)

[Matthew Anker]

Sony officially discontinued the SCD-CE775 5 disc SACD changer on March 12th (according to Crutchfield). The player is currently selling for $179 at retailers that still have them. It is built almost exactly like the 222ES (less one transformer), and is selling for $300 less. Get them while you still can! Hopefully, Sony will come out with a new player at this price level, but it will no doubt be greatly cheapened. I don't know how they even sold it at that price and still made a profit since it's built so well. I appologize if I've encouraged any "SACD is dead" responses, but this is very disconcerting to me.
-Matthew Anker
www.SACDmods.com

 

[John Geelan]

It certainly seems that way when I went into a local CC this past week and saw that price of 179 new!

My CC had their open box models at 179, so it was suprising to see a new one at that price point.

JohnG

 

[KeithH]

Matthew, this is not at all a surprise given the sharp price drop we have seen on this player. However, I have to disagree with you somewhat on a couple of points. I never thought the 'CE775 provided the build quality or CD playback performance befitting a $350 player. From those points of view, I feel $180 is a fair price. However, SACD does make the 'CE775 a bargain at $180. Also, I would not assume that Sony will replace the 'CE775 with a lesser budget model. Sony still has a lot to prove with the SACD format, and one way to do that, aside from opening the floodgates with new software, is to continue to churn out quality budget players to attract the masses. I am quite sure that Sony can make a replacement changer that is equal to or better than the 'CE775 for $250-300. Time will tell if they do just that.

Look at what Sony is doing in the DVD/SACD area. It is replacing the interlaced DVP-NS500V, that originally sold for $300, with the 'NS755V that adds progressive-scan playback and playback of MP3-encoded CDs for $300. It certainly would be possible for Sony to use the exact blueprint for the 'NS500V and simply include a few extra features to make the 'NS755V a better value. Something to keep in mind is that players like the 'NS500V and 'CE775 were Sony's first SACD players directed towards the masses, as evidenced by their distribution through mass retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City. As first-generation mass-market players, the prices were a bit high for what your were getting, in some respects. These players, of course, looked like bargains since we had been used to the higher prices of the ES components. Overall, these were quality components, but Sony should be able to produced equals for less money or superior players at the same prices. Again, time will tell if Sony does either.