Soon-to-be owner of a Pioneer 704 LD player (1 Viewer)

[Brian-W]

The Pioneer CLD-D704 is a very fine Laser Disc player. In fact it is so good that Video Magazine (now Sound & Vision) while reviewing it, had termed it as the 'Holy Grail' of Laser Disc players.

And now relegated to the dust bin. The X9/X0 are now the Holy Grails of the laserdisc world.

 

[Rachael B]

Brian, you beat me to the punch!

 

[Mattias_ka]

AMEN that,Brian Wiklem!!!!
Do the X0 have a better box?
As shipping 38 kg is not a "light" thing to do.

 

[Brian-W]

My X0 was obtained used from a user in France. It arrived in a self-made (on his end) wooden crate with lots of foam, bubble wrap, and styrofoam peanuts. At 80 pounds, a lot of packing material!

So I can't verify if the original packaging was sufficient. Based on the X9, I can't imagine it was

 

[Mattias_ka]

Brian Wiklem, Well, I will look it up with Daniel before he send it. It would not be so funny if anything happens with it during the shipping.

 

[Brian-W]

At 80 pounds (which will cost at least $350 USD shipping) and how scarce they are becoming, no, it wouldn't be a laughing matter if something happened.

 

[Jim Douglas]

The X9/X0 may be the holy grail but for some of us regular folk the 704/79 do just fine
Jim

 

[Rachael B]

That's a good point Jim, but I've been into LD so long, since '87, that any player that will tweek my discs, is a player I want. If I wasn't building a condo I would pursue an X0 to play my growing Muse collection on. The X9 is the grail for NTSC! The 704 is a very above average player. I must admit I'm spoil't and jaded!

This thread has turned into LASERDISC CHAT 101. Next.....?

 

[Tony Kwong]

I've been thinking about what you wrote here, Japan is a very small place. A lot of the freight is delivered on very small trucks not the large ones people in larger land mass country are familar with. And they were prob not designed for such a long trip or for international transport as these players were intended for Japan only.....

 

[Rachael B]

That's true Tony but Nippon has a bunch of islands and some shipping would have to be by boat or air. Pioneer darn well knows that lots of hi-end players are leaving the country to far off locales too. Best wishes!

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

And now relegated to the dust bin. The X9/X0 are now the Holy Grails of the laserdisc world.

Let's first understand what the term 'Holy Grail' was supposed to imply. The reviewer from "Video Magazine" did not suggest that the 704 was the best LD Player, what he was suggesting is that the 704 was the best overall player in terms of video & sound quality, build, features and price. To get anything even slightly better than the 704 the reviewer felt you would have to spend atleast 3-4 times as much as the 704.

Sanjay
Member since 1997

 

[Brian-W]

Let's not forget that the 704 was also a $1k player when new.

 

[Patrick Sun]

FYI, another S9 is on the auction block at you-know-where.
Should I just rename this thread "The Official Laser Disc Afficionado Thread"?