How CD players got boring…

I always said that the CD was a thing of beauty.

Great news,,just make sure you have a variety of new belts at the ready,,they rot in a hurry on these,Bought my Sony with a table error .but changed the two belts and it was perfect again,,,Good Luck Mat!

Great stuff as usual.Have you considered covering the CD Mega Changers by Sony Pioneer etc? They came in 25,,50,,100,,200,,300,,then 400 capacity's as they evolved.Even DVD and BluRay versions later on.,As i love CDs still,i got a Denon DCM 5000,considered to be the daddy of mega changers,All metal construction and 16kg,only took 100 discs but what a machine,also played HDCD which was new to me lol.ive since got a Sony 300 player and loving it.cheers

Another fine Video Mat, its funny I have a Bang and Olufsen 9000 which has all the CDs on display, i actually made a video about it. https://youtu.be/jPNwggbd7SE As there weren't any other reviews of it on youtube. But since buying it, i needed to justify the purchase, by getting CDs, and as they are always on display, you sometimes choose which CDs will be played based on how they look. And i also agree that seeing the CD move does visualise the playing of music. I would greatly appreciate it if you could watch it, maybe when you are a bit bored or there isnt anything good on tv. :) Cheers

I hope it's not too late to start building that HiFi I always wanted in the 90s. It only took 30 years to have the space AND the disposable income. :)

Interesting Facts. When Technics realised DJs were going to start using CDs over vinyl, the professional models you’ve mentioned were made in conjunction with DMC in Slough. They run the annual World DJ Championships (sponsored by Technics), and they wanted to ensure when SL1200 turntables were replaced in night clubs, Technics CD Players were installed. Technics didn’t follow the recommendations made by DMC DJs and as a result Pioneer took the lead as the ‘must have’ DJ CD Player with their CDJ range. If you’re interested in any more info, let me know. I was head of production at DMC for 3 years, so I have first hand knowledge. Tom

I'm loving the comments feed on this one. Plenty of "I can see the disc spinning in my B&O", "how come you didn't mention the SL-1200?" and "my CD player from 1985 plays burnt discs just fine!". Never change, YT commenters.

Mat, this is completely unrelated to this topic, but I made an interesting observation. In your first MiniDisc unwrapping video https://youtu.be/RPWkrwvAT0M you featured a certain Panasonic with fun retro colors. I was doing my typical eBay rounds and saw this item: https://www.ebay.com/itm/125112978411. Now I don't know if it was intentional but I think they were echoing back to their earlier design - what do you think? Screenshot comparison: https://ibb.co/j3mk1tW Note: there may have been another MD that looked even closer to that design, but I couldn't find it on the videos.

Thanks for the video Mat. I remember my first CD player in the early 1980's. One of my favourite CDs (Jean Michel Jarre - Magnetic Fields) had indexes in track 1. Most modern players don't support index markers any more.

Can anyone here tell me what type of CD player Hideo Kojima has? It can be seen here as well as several of his other posts: https://www.instagram.com/p/CXJQEh5vEJT/?utm_medium=copy_link

I really thought it was just me who liked getting dizzy from watching CDs spin! This brought memories, as I had this micro system with the cd at the top and a window, but it was really awkward for me to look into because how I had it set up. At any rate I wanted it badly on my CD player. But my Panasonic had no window 😞 so I always was envious of people I saw at the library with one of them you could peek inside

The original Rega Planet (1997) was once my dream machine: https://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/634/index.html (the writer mentions his dislike of drawer mechanisms, BTW) Couldn't afford it at the time (in today's money, about €1300 — or $2000 Bruneian), so it remained a dream. Ripping to FLAC is my preferred method of playing CDs since years now, so there's no nostalgia purchase of a Planet planned either. Still, I do enjoy its design and regard it as probably the best designed CD player ever. It has just the right amount of "prettiness" balanced with rugged utilitarianism that appeals to me. BTW, noticed that your Technics has an Emphasis LED. A rare feature, mostly seen on early players, which would indicate that the CD being played uses pre-emphasis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc_Digital_Audio#Audio_format Also, I've heard it claimed that those windowed B&O players could be sensitive to flash photography. Possibly a myth, but worth trying with your Technics to see how it holds up?

Now THAT is a CD player! Very concise video too. I think I have owned a few of the nasty boring ones featured over the years too

That's a great video. I enjoyed the intro essay and, as you said, it whets the appetite for the demo. Thank you!

Awesome Mat! The Sony CDP-302 and its pricier but identical twin brother the CDP-520ES were traditional players available in 1985. Both had a clear window above the drawer and an evil green light inside to let you mesmerize yourself for hours by watching the disc whirl around. I actually have and still use my CDP-302. It was the first CD player I ever owned. Like your Technics - these Sony's are super fast at reading the ToC and the direct-drive sled changes tracks lightning fast. It's it an amazing player for its time. Some pics: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuNvMH5MAYNOkvdrJA7qO2xcAZM6xw?e=i9quY3

I really enjoyed your introduction - and the demonstration of course but your intro was quite thought-provoking. I hadn't given the design of CD players any thought really. I reckon you scripted that. It flowed well and made your arguments in a persuasive way. Nice video, well done, Mat. S.

Excellent video, as always, sir. I can relate to the Analog Meters - my Lafayette 5050 has both signal strength and signal center meters - one of the reasons I got it. I don't think anything today has either of those meters.

OK, yes, great piece as always but really, that model *has* to be top shelf ... so that you can get discs in! :-D Just had a similar discussion about the gizmosity of music playback devices in another place. Today, you can put a couple of plug things in your ears and hear, in extremely high quality, just about every piece of music ever made almost instantly. And yet, something is missing. Adjusting the tone arm *perfectly* and threading the tape through the heads and even tuning in the "FM Multiplex" signal was part of the deal and without it ... I don't know. Something.

Like you, I have a collection of aesthetically pleasing pieces, and yes, some are B & O. I also have a soft spot for top loading cassette decks, which I scorned in my youth. I never put much thought into why CD players are boring, but I think you’re right - nothing to watch. I see in the comments mentions of mega changers. I gave one to my father in law, and when he passed I got it back. I loaded it up with Rhino’s Have A Nice Day and Didn’t I Blow Your Mind compilations, but still never used it much. But now I’m thinking I should make a plexiglass cover to replace the metal one, and put it next to my Telex 8-track changer and Panasonic cassette changer carousels. That might be fun!

The thing that caught my eye with this machine (other than all of its cool features) is the electronics diagram printed on the top left of its face. It's not a complete schematic diagram, but appears to show just enough circuit detail to make it a bit more than a purely decorative element. Kind of like a graphic way to show off its technical features rather than the fancy script shown on your Denon turntable.

I'll be gutted when the player dies and I can't get it repaired. I was lucky when the drawer mech recently locked up and a local chap did fix it (although wasn't cheap). He did say that folks should service their old hi-fi kit as the grease drys out and hardens (which is what stopped my drawer working). One area I found the external DAC made a difference was when streaming some lockdown concerts recently. The DAC (in my case an Audiolab M-DAC) was a noticeable upgrade to the computer's inbuilt audio. Also made a nice way to integrate the Mac Mini to the hi-fi. Got to love the Mac Mini's optical out (do they still have that?) Otherwise I'm happy with my kit and don't tend to use it much.

Great video Mat. Been looking forward to this one after you recently teased it and it didn't disappoint. It looks so at home in your hi-fi. I remember seeing these in the Technics catalogue around the end of the 80's. I couldn't afford one or have space for one but instead saved up and got the SL-P777 from my Saturday job at a Camera and Hi-fi shop. The player is still serving me well over 30 years later with the original laser although I may come to regret not replacing it when replacements were still available. Mine might just be a standard drawer player but it does have a little lighted mirror above the drawer so you can see the spinning disc and the option of audio level meters on the display which was great for setting levels for mix tapes. It also has the cueing options with a jog dial. I used another earlier Technics deck with a jog dial in amateur theatre and it was great for finding what you wanted when making the sound f/x and music cues for a show - we used to record to 1/4" tape then Minidisc - all file based now even in amateur theatre. My Technics player has a digital output and I recently tried it with a modern hi-fi DAC which to my surprise didn't make that much of an improvement. Technics made such great kit.

Always been a fan of the Technics stuff. I bought an A900s Amplifier many many years ago and it's still going strong today (and still looks great too). I never knew so many features were available on a CD player but I suppose in professional use it would totally make sense. No doubt a little easier to work with than vinyl but still will seem a little prehistoric to many when compared to the computer control radio studio we have now.

Nice video Mat. One gotta love a machine like that. When I was young, I’d love to have a jog dial.

I confess to not being a cd fan and just had a cheapo midi system back in the day. However, I noted your points about top loading and is it only ‘boom boxes’ including those still being made that have a top loading system too?

SL-P1200...that brings back memories. That exact model was used in the production studio of 98.7 KLUV where I used to intern, then later work in the mid 1990s.

Watching your media playback is what I like to call "Mechanical Music". I never gave it much thought until I inherited my grandfather's RT-909 and I just enormously enjoy watching music playback while those big 10.5 inch reels turn. I'll be fixing up my old Sony turntable (linear drive is sticking) next.

Too chunky for what I’d like in a CD player, but it’s the all lower case helvetica that sells it for me 😅

I used to have one of those Philips wall hung systems with the vertical CD player and you’d often find people just watching the disk spin, as they’d never seen it before. Sadly, it died in a big thunderstorm.

What a lovely machine. Never seen it before. Very much deserves the top of the rack space. (Oooooh, do I spot that JPN CD / minidisc combo machine....? Think it's been in the background before...)

Finally you include Fijian Dollars prices! No questions left.

I'm completely with you on the importance of both seeing the media move and of getting some visible indication of progress. Plenty of knobs, buttons and coloured lights are also important, so this CD player definitely gets a thumbs up from me. btw, I was persuaded to buy a set of £50 cables to connect my turntable to my amplifier. Guess what? Couldn't hear any difference. Great video, thanks, Mat.

Wow. What an impressive machine. Was that the first few bars of Charles Aznavour’s La Bohème? You do have good taste, Mat!

There's something about how you described the surface attributes of certain audio components that reminded me of how Hyacinth Bucket would unfailingly mention the refined features of her possessions as though they were part of the official name of the product. Which inspired a mental puzzle: what kind of hi-fi would Hyacinth have bought for her parlor in the early nineties? She's social-climbing, wants people to think of her as posh. The Buckets have a comfortable middle-class income. She's likely to be impressed by marketing copy lingo like "champagne-gold brushed metal" and "solid wood end panels with fine-grain rosewood effect veneer." Would she choose a legitimately impressive brand and get the cheapest gear in the range? Would she go for a second- or third-tier brand to get components with more buttons and dials and indicators on them? (I'm seeing her as a Bang & Olufsen customer.)

That's a nice looking CD player. I love these retro tech videos. After finding a 110+1 CD jukebox, I've become slightly obsessed with them. I got one of the Sony 400 disc changers for Christmas. Seems there are a lot of the 200, 300 and 400 Sony models available. Have you had any interest in those?

That SL-P1200 is magnificent. I bet it even has a built-in ink pad that automatically applies a green stripe to the edge of the disc, too.

Your montage of "components with drawers" included a design language I've always liked: the operational panel/display that serves as the front of the loading drawer. It's not a practical choice by any means. But it creates a perpetual connection between the physical media and its interface. The button the user presses has an effect on a physical object just behind that button.

Maybe I should get one of these, I never play CDs because it's too boring, I prefer transferring them to tape (R2R or cassette)

Its pretty much a CD version of the SL 1200 turntable, the base is exactly the same as is the model number. Either way its a wicked cool machine!!!

I loved my multidisc carousel player, but the real workhorse from my CD listening for 20-odd years was a really uninteresting black thing with a fax machine like name. I bought it mainly because it had a really good 1/4" headphone jack (which is usually how I listen)

I don't play CDs anymore, but they were my preferred physical format, and I greatly miss the "calendar" view of tracks on late 1980s CD players.

After watching this video, I wonder at the performance of this model Casio CD/Cassette machine: https://www.ebay.com/itm/324711969717 🤔 Description on this particular one says disc player is faulty, though. 😐

I had never seen any of those sexy beasts before...now which one to get....?

Thanks for sharing that beautiful device with all the wonderful things, most useful CD player ever

Great video! Made me want to find the first CD player I ever used which was in the vertical orientation. My parents bought this terrible combo unit back in the late 80s or early 90s. Complete garbage but it seemed so high tech to me https://www.ebth.com/items/2578984-lxi-series-stereo-system

Maybe it's time for me to get that fifty CD vertical carrousel out of the storage space.

TBH my favourite TM videos are the ones where Mat gives a history lesson. I find them very interesting and there's usually a really neat product demo as well. Speaking of how I love things with effort put into them, that reminds me of how much I love the look of '80s CD players. I have a late '80s Sony that I think is pretty cool. It might be a more orthodox looking drawer-loading unit, but it has buttons marked from 1 to 20 allowing for direct track access to the first 20 tracks on a CD. The little matching grid on the VFD showing tracks 1 through 20, with each number blanking out after each track is played, is a tiny detail that I particularly enjoy. I need to get out more.

Interestingly, Philips developed and announced a "vertical" CD player, the CD400, and I distinctly remember that when I went to the Firato in Amsterdam in 1982 where they were demonstrating CD, that was the player they used, with an ABBA disc in it. I took home some flyers that had all the first Philips CD players in it: The CD100 that doesn't even have a time display, only a track display that's built like a VU meter, and they also made some other systems where the entire mechanism was on a drawer. The CD400 was in there too, but guess what: The most awesome looking CD player they developed, never went into production. Philips has a way of doing that. The DCC850 was also a way cooler recorder than the DCC900 and they made a preproduction run of the 850 and sent it to several magazines for review. But the only first-generation recorder they made was the 900. Anyway, great video as always. I can see you put a lot of extra work in this one; great editing! Thanks for posting!

Along with records and tapes I still buy CDs very often because second hand it’s almost cheaper than pirating the music… friend of mine has recently started collecting records and loves the physical aspect - I recently suggested CDs to him alongside his records for the aforementioned reasons, he couldn’t have been less interested.

Really neat to see the other end of the range having grown up with a SL-P117 of similar vintage.

Very good - both halves. Now of to search eBay…. again.

I've been looking at Rega top-loaders this week, predominantly the Apollo or Saturn models. Not only is the current Apollo stupendously out of my price range at a mere £800, but the lids on the earlier ones on eBay are clear, rather than black on current ones. Oh, and considerably cheaper. Unlike you, I have a fair few CD-Rs though, so no idea if these earlier models would take them.

I always wanted one of the demo CD players found in HMV and similar shops, with multiple CDs spinning away. I never got one. I did just stumble across a guy called Unobtec on Instragram that built himself a CD player with the disc completely exposed, maybe worth a look. He also makes some very interesting cassette players.

Thank you for rescuing me from this general winter malaise, Mat! That machine is a thing of great beauty and function - and Technics to boot. Even I, as a certified CD un-enthusiast, can wholly appreciate that! And LOL.. "if it falls on you, it'll kill you." And... Oh, hello there you dear TM Hi-Fi system! How long has it been? Oh, hello there you dear Hewlett-Packard calc watch! Yikes, I'm feeling like George Bailey running through Bedford Falls. Dear CD Player sellers: Don't leave your CDs in the player, please. Dear MiniDisc Player sellers: Leave any of your MDs in, please. Dear R2R Player sellers: Add your entire pre-recorded reel collection to the box, please. Dear Cassette Player sellers: Leave your tapes in as long as they are (insert music type(s)).

Seeing the CD100 put a smile on my face: it was my first CD-player, bought used from a local shop in October 1984 for 2500 Dkr, with two of my then favourite albums (Dire Straits - Love Over Gold and Depeche Mode - Construction Time Again) thrown in. It played well and sounded great - loads better than my record player back then for sure, never mind my first tape deck. It took its sweet time reading the TOC though, and seeking wasn't much faster than winding a cassette with a finger, so I never programmed it. I passed it on to my sister at some point, wonder if she still has it. It would make for a fun repair/improvement project.

I just got an ad for a very stylized CD players on Instagram. They know.

Last time I bought a used car it came with a Britney Spears CD.

Could it be a safety issue in an age where people became more litigious? A laser could possibly blind someone if they had no common sense and looked straight into it. Maybe there was a feeling amongst manufacturers that you needed to make sure no one could accidentally look into the laser.

You're right Mat modern CD players are boring. Even the latest state of the art ones are. I have no idea why, perhaps the designers have never got their hands on legacy CD players like the Technics one you own.

Yes. Hadn't really thought of that. I tended to assume that the warning was a marketing thing as it bragged about the recording encompassing the full frequency range. Some record labels had it on all their discs well into the 90s but most didn't bother.

I'd have killed for one of those in 1986. I do remember thinking of front and top-loading players as cheap, possibly because the cheapest player on the market at the time was an old top-loading Toshiba. Also, the Amstrads and mass-market Philips players tended to be front-loading. Odd how the index points on CDs came to be forgotten as the years went on. Quite a lot of CDs had warnings that they could damage your equipment if played too loudly. I'm not sure if that happened very often.

Great video. I nearly bought an SL-P1200, but instead I recently got myself the CD player I always wanted when I was a kid in the 80’s - a Technics SL-P550, which whilst being a drawer load, has a mirror that shows you the disc rotating so you get that kinetic pleasure, but you can also get it to show a level meter on the display too! Sound is epic, the twin Burr-Brown DAC’s sound way nicer linked by analogue interconnect than the coaxial digital connection. Like I’m reliving my youth again!

My parents bought an SL-P420 with the same prism when I was young (7, 8?). It was the first time we’d had anything remotely cutting-edge, and must have been a real stretch - for years after it was connected to a Sony TA-1010 amp that looked like it was from another century. I remember they even bought a handful of CDs before they got the player itself, including one of the 1812 Overture, which had a warning that the ‘digital cannon’ could damage your speakers if you played it too loud. It was a really prominent part of my childhood, and the beautiful design was a big part of that.

Now I need one of these that plays CDrs.

Some trivia ... it looks like your SL-P1200 has the same feet as a SL-1200/1210MK2.

Fantastic episode! I’ve never been more fascinated by a CD player before.

Looking at the B&O players and the pageantry has vanished, they make movie players that sometimes play cds now.

That will go nice with your Technics SV-P100 !

I've had two Technics players with prisms in them so the horizontal disc looks like it's playing vertically. They both look fantastic. This is the one I have now https://youtu.be/N-FbYCIXq1k and this is the one I used to have https://youtu.be/EvUXMJ8e-Gw . Adored the sl-p2 was absolutely gorgeous.

Hi Mat. Just wondering: Have you considered re-introducing your spinning digital Techmoan logo in your videos? Why was it ever removed? It's the only real mistake you've made ever ;-) Anyway, looking forward to watching the video. Cheers, Kim