this evening out of sheer bordom i figured id dig some of the lesser known and rarley used pieces out of the crapstack.
-has the infamous stereorob converted to BPC?? oh no!! and no, definatly no. things that are black boxes with digital displays sadden and anger me. anyways, on with it.
i figured id hook up and play with some of my earlier cd components, all single drawer stuff from the mid 1980s, ive always kinda had a soft spot for these older ones and i always pick them up when i see them if they are cheap. they go back to a time when cd technology was still a new exiting thing and most mainstream american households didnt have a cd player yet. and when everyone on the block would come over and OOO and AAHH over the first time they got to see/hear one. im not a fan of digital crap but these are kinda cool in a weird geeky way, with there little quirks, funky designs, and very well made construction, this evening i had 3 test subjects, a 1984 technics sl-p1, a 1985 pioneer pd-5010, and finally a 1986 marantz cd-151
now, some early cd players have a hard time playing mp3 burned cds and thats one of the reasons they pretty much stay out of the forfront of my rig, cause most of my cds are pirated mixes on mp3, so i used the doors la woman album via mp3 cd, and a normal store bought joe jacksons greatest hits cd
first up was the oldest, the 1984 technics sl-p1, witch is a pretty intresting machine. its thin and low profile, but very deep, and is full metal with a solid heavy duty transport and has some intresting features like a little mirrored window in the cd transport tray where you can see the cd spinning, its built like a tank inside, with 2 layers of curcit boards, a big heatsink, and lots of other chips and what not. i slid the mp3 cd into it and it freaked out and wouldnt even try to play it, but the regular joe jackson cd played fine. it has a nice soundstage and it has a lively feel and sound to it, and not what you would expect for a 28 year old cd deck. and one unique feature that this machine has is that everytime you hit the skip track button, a relay inside clicks twice between tracks! thats something ive never seen before and i think its pretty cool and gives it less of a bpc feel to it. something else that i found intresting, was even though this one is the oldest of the bunch, it has the most modern digital display of them all, blue floresent leds. around back, you will find a detachible power cord and intresting and creative ways for the rca jacks to hook in. check it out! not to mention, this thing gets hot as a pistol if left on for some time.
next up, the 1985 pioneer pd-5010. although its sadly black its full metal jacket! it weighs a ton, very solidly built, almost as well as there stuff from the 1970s, witch is suprising cause mid 1980s pioneer stuff was the pinnicle of shit! this is definatly not at all. this one has all the basic features, with no remote control eye, a big heavy metal transport, and is almost nakimichi looking with the big 2 digit red led display, with just track numbers and no timing. i hit the drawer and put in the mp3 cd. i hit the load button and it took it in with a big "clunk" sound -i like that! it took itself a few seconds to figure out what the hell it was being made to try to play, but ended up scaning, reading and playing the cd with exellent precision with no hesitations at all. jim morrisons riders on the storm sounded fantastic! next was the joe jackson cd, witch took no time at all to read and played great!, although, his song, steppin out, wasnt as lifelike and didnt have quite the tonal depth and soundstage as the technics sl-p1, it was still nice. some other intresting features of this deck were a accsessory 120 volt outlet mounted on the rear panel and a disc level set indicator light on the front panel, with blue tipped censors in the transport. all in all, was my top pick in the bunch. check it out!!
last but definatly not least, was the 1986 marantz cd-151, from the infamous and dredded dynascan era of gear, when marantz was at its absolut worst, making cheezy all-in-one systems sold at rent-to-own retail outlets, this was somewhat of an exeption though. it has a unique look to it that is almost reminecent of superscope era stuff, and its all metal kere too, down to the buttons. it has a really cool lightup see-trew transport door so you can see the cd spinning inside, big cheezy -but cool green led display, and also has a bit of weight to it. very very basic design, no remote cencor found here eather. it dose have a sticky transport door issue but that seems to be a common problem with these, but it proudly displays "front loading system" accross it. it has a flat front panel with slanted and jutted out controls, kinda like the technics, it played both types of cds almost perfectly, and took only seconds to recognise the mp3 cd. sadly though, for whatever reason, it lacks the soundstage and presence of both the pioneer and the technics, -yes a sad day indeed for marantz! still neat looking though and fun to play with!
so theres my little review of early cd players, i hope you liked it!!
-has the infamous stereorob converted to BPC?? oh no!! and no, definatly no. things that are black boxes with digital displays sadden and anger me. anyways, on with it.
i figured id hook up and play with some of my earlier cd components, all single drawer stuff from the mid 1980s, ive always kinda had a soft spot for these older ones and i always pick them up when i see them if they are cheap. they go back to a time when cd technology was still a new exiting thing and most mainstream american households didnt have a cd player yet. and when everyone on the block would come over and OOO and AAHH over the first time they got to see/hear one. im not a fan of digital crap but these are kinda cool in a weird geeky way, with there little quirks, funky designs, and very well made construction, this evening i had 3 test subjects, a 1984 technics sl-p1, a 1985 pioneer pd-5010, and finally a 1986 marantz cd-151
now, some early cd players have a hard time playing mp3 burned cds and thats one of the reasons they pretty much stay out of the forfront of my rig, cause most of my cds are pirated mixes on mp3, so i used the doors la woman album via mp3 cd, and a normal store bought joe jacksons greatest hits cd
first up was the oldest, the 1984 technics sl-p1, witch is a pretty intresting machine. its thin and low profile, but very deep, and is full metal with a solid heavy duty transport and has some intresting features like a little mirrored window in the cd transport tray where you can see the cd spinning, its built like a tank inside, with 2 layers of curcit boards, a big heatsink, and lots of other chips and what not. i slid the mp3 cd into it and it freaked out and wouldnt even try to play it, but the regular joe jackson cd played fine. it has a nice soundstage and it has a lively feel and sound to it, and not what you would expect for a 28 year old cd deck. and one unique feature that this machine has is that everytime you hit the skip track button, a relay inside clicks twice between tracks! thats something ive never seen before and i think its pretty cool and gives it less of a bpc feel to it. something else that i found intresting, was even though this one is the oldest of the bunch, it has the most modern digital display of them all, blue floresent leds. around back, you will find a detachible power cord and intresting and creative ways for the rca jacks to hook in. check it out! not to mention, this thing gets hot as a pistol if left on for some time.
next up, the 1985 pioneer pd-5010. although its sadly black its full metal jacket! it weighs a ton, very solidly built, almost as well as there stuff from the 1970s, witch is suprising cause mid 1980s pioneer stuff was the pinnicle of shit! this is definatly not at all. this one has all the basic features, with no remote control eye, a big heavy metal transport, and is almost nakimichi looking with the big 2 digit red led display, with just track numbers and no timing. i hit the drawer and put in the mp3 cd. i hit the load button and it took it in with a big "clunk" sound -i like that! it took itself a few seconds to figure out what the hell it was being made to try to play, but ended up scaning, reading and playing the cd with exellent precision with no hesitations at all. jim morrisons riders on the storm sounded fantastic! next was the joe jackson cd, witch took no time at all to read and played great!, although, his song, steppin out, wasnt as lifelike and didnt have quite the tonal depth and soundstage as the technics sl-p1, it was still nice. some other intresting features of this deck were a accsessory 120 volt outlet mounted on the rear panel and a disc level set indicator light on the front panel, with blue tipped censors in the transport. all in all, was my top pick in the bunch. check it out!!
last but definatly not least, was the 1986 marantz cd-151, from the infamous and dredded dynascan era of gear, when marantz was at its absolut worst, making cheezy all-in-one systems sold at rent-to-own retail outlets, this was somewhat of an exeption though. it has a unique look to it that is almost reminecent of superscope era stuff, and its all metal kere too, down to the buttons. it has a really cool lightup see-trew transport door so you can see the cd spinning inside, big cheezy -but cool green led display, and also has a bit of weight to it. very very basic design, no remote cencor found here eather. it dose have a sticky transport door issue but that seems to be a common problem with these, but it proudly displays "front loading system" accross it. it has a flat front panel with slanted and jutted out controls, kinda like the technics, it played both types of cds almost perfectly, and took only seconds to recognise the mp3 cd. sadly though, for whatever reason, it lacks the soundstage and presence of both the pioneer and the technics, -yes a sad day indeed for marantz! still neat looking though and fun to play with!
so theres my little review of early cd players, i hope you liked it!!