The Compact Disc

Very cool stroll down memory lane of the first CD players. The article is a few years old, but cool none-the-less:

https://www.whathifi.com/news/cd-30-years-old-today
Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
«1

Comments

  • Msabot1
    Msabot1 Posts: 2,098
    My first was a Techniques...can't recall the model,but it had a silver case and was built like a tank..close to 10 lbs...sometime around 83 or 84... Offering in that format was very limited too...been a while ago...
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    Couple of old ones here in working condition. Dump finds, of course.

    10439523565_14246b7f5c_b.jpgTechnics old CDP by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
    10439534934_cebf00108a_b.jpgSony old CDP by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

    I just missed snagging one of those very first, Magnavox branded (in the US) players, in original box and packaging, at the swap pile at the ol' Harvard (MA) town dump some years back. I had espied it, got to chatting with a friend, and one of my dump-diver nemeses swept in and snagged it "out from under me" :/

    Easy come, easy go, you know?


    z635pvn3sgnn.png

    ^^ one of those, you know? ( borrowed image)


    I remember going to Soundscape one Saturday ca. '83 or 84 to give a listen to some early CDPs. They were atrociously harsh & bright (which I have always chalked up to the performance of their "brick wall" analog low-pass filters, FWIW). So awful that it was a decade before I tried listening to any again. They'd gotten better -- good enough that I finally bought one: a Sony 5-disc carousel changer :) Still have it, too. Still installed, and still working, in the seldom used "home theater" hifi in our 'library/den' on the first floor.

  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    edited November 2017
    This is the coolest "vintage" :p CDP here. Also a dump find, but DOA as found. Surgery revealed that its last meal consisted - I kid you not - of a Kenny G CD, so it may have been a suicide.

    I was clueless to fix it so I gave it away; would've been cool to use, though, for its aesthetic vibe.

    30123363084_4508d4d7a2_b.jpgDSC_6315_zps1998048c by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
  • daddyjt
    daddyjt Posts: 2,305
    This was my first - Ironically, I still have it, with 7 magazines and the remote... AND it still works just fine:-)

    bs7u04jq6o96.png
    "Conservative Libertarians love the country, progressive leftists love the government." - Andrew Wilkow


    “Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
    ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,521
    edited November 2017
    I OWNED the Sony and Technics you have pictured above. The Technics had a cool prism window where you could see the disc spinning. It was a very nice sounding (smooth) cd player in it's day. Being OCD about background noise, I was an early adopter of the Compact Disc.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    edited November 2017
    I have -- heh, heh -- two of the CDP-102 Sonys. Both work. They are built strong like bull.

    (FWIW) Noise doesn't bother me much. Bad sound bothers me.
  • decal
    decal Posts: 3,205
    My friend had a Magnavox and one cd, Street Survivors by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I'm still sick of that disc!!!!!
    If you can't hear a difference, don't waste your money.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    I had The Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 for the longest time :)
  • Viking64
    Viking64 Posts: 6,646
    I had bought Led Zeppelin's entire catalog on CD before I even had a player! So, for Christmas 1988, one of my brothers got me this Yamaha CDX 510. I finally updated my Zep CD's last month for the first time since 1988! :p

    pzy2t53cnpca.jpg


  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    edited November 2017
    For completeness :/ here's a photo of our first storebought CDP: A Sony CDP-C...whatever.

    The drawer is now a little balky opening & closing (I assume there's a belt that's gotten stretched and unsupple) but otherwise it still works fine.

    26712812849_b49c18b5db_b.jpgP1020535(1) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

    Photo from 2007
  • I won the first Sony component auto CD player they made from a local radio station two weeks before they went on sale to the general public in the late summer/early fall of 1984.

    It had RCA's in(for the radio tuner/cassette player) and RCA's for an amp along with it's own volume control and tone controls. I also won a Sony radio, amp and speakers but my Alpine stuff was better then what I won.

    I still have the first CD I bought in 1980 too. It's Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and it still sounds great. I wonder how a newer re-mastered CD would sound in comparison???
    "Make a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Light
    a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."


  • Conradicles
    Conradicles Posts: 6,010
    I own several early Magnavox CD spinners. They got it right.
  • daddyjt
    daddyjt Posts: 2,305
    edited November 2017
    daddyjt wrote: »
    This was my first - Ironically, I still have it, with 7 magazines and the remote... AND it still works just fine:-)

    bs7u04jq6o96.png

    Picture disappeared in original post...:-(

    vjizy58mf2jr.png
    "Conservative Libertarians love the country, progressive leftists love the government." - Andrew Wilkow


    “Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
    ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,034
    edited November 2017
    I would love to have one of these...
    The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD

    “When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    Never saw that one.
    I had a Carver CDP with "Digital Time Lens" (whatever that is/was).
    I found it at the dump.
    It sounded OK.

    The most interesting CDP I had (or still have) is a Nakamichi OMS-7.
    Same source as most of my CDPs. These are notorious for bad lasers. This one still works (well, at least the last time I used it, it did), but I am paranoid to use it because I figure it's, at best, on borrowed time. The lasers, as I understand it, are made of the purest, unalloyed unobtainium. :#

    As I recall, it sounds prett good. It is very heavy.
    It sits atop the Yamaha pile (FWIW) -- just another rectangular black box unless examined closely, though.
  • I own several early Magnavox CD spinners. They got it right.

    I believe Philips built them. I still have one too.

    "Make a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Light
    a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."


  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    TNTsTunes wrote: »
    I own several early Magnavox CD spinners. They got it right.

    I believe Philips built them. I still have one too.

    Yes, you are correct.
  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    I have a CD/SACD player, and use it once or twice a year. :)

    Seriously though, while they were terrible at the beginning, the technological revolution they introduced has both lowered (compression) and raised (high-res) our musical experience.
    Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
    Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
    Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes

    Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
    Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
    Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables

    Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
    Three 20 amp circuits.
  • Viking64
    Viking64 Posts: 6,646
    mhardy6647 wrote: »
    I had The Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 for the longest time :)

    5r9hfk1bpp74.jpg
  • Hermitism
    Hermitism Posts: 4,192
    I have a couple early ones. I've got that portable Sony in that article, but I could have sworn the model name was D-5, not D-50, and have an ADC CD-100X.

    zqdiixx24y71.jpg
  • Most new cars come less CD players anymore don't they?
    2 channel: Anthem 225 Integrated amp; Parasound Ztuner; TechnicsTT SL1350; Vincent PHO-8 phono pre; Marantz CD6005 spinner; Polk SDA2BTL's; LAT International speaker cables, ZU Mission IC's and power cables all into a PS Audio Dectet Power center.

    Other; M10 series II, M7C's, Hafler XL600 amp, RB-980BX, Parasound HCA-1500 amp , P5 preamp, all in storage. All vintage Polk have had crossover rebuilds and tweeter upgrades.

    The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

    It is imperative that we recognize that an opinion is not a fact.

    Imagine making politics your entire personality.
  • Hermitism
    Hermitism Posts: 4,192
    edited November 2017
    Most new cars come less CD players anymore don't they?
    Yay, no more skipping! That Sony sucked, you could **** in the car and make it skip.

    edit: f-a-r-t got bleeped.
  • lightman1
    lightman1 Posts: 10,776
    I was in Limerick, Ireland when I first laid eyes on a Phillips CDP. '84 I think. I was enamored by this fancy new technology. I was perusing the vinyl racks and espied this new fangled machine on a display in the gear section of the store. Hooked!
    I showed it to my Dad the next time we went there. He buying a new cartridge for the TT we had. He looked at it, studied it and said..."Huh! Ain't that some sh**!"
    He never was one for wasting words, but I could see the engineer wheels turning.....
    Over the years he finally "adopted" the digital format and bought a CDP. But never gave up his love for analog.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,480
    edited November 2017
    I would love to have one of these...

    That is a new one on me. That is one i never knew about snazzy

    My first was mid 85 or so and bought a pioneer. When it crooked after two years i bought Sony and never looked back. First was i believe a 508es then an X33es still have both and both still rock on. Recapped the X33 several yrs back so now it will go another 20yrs
  • headrott
    headrott Posts: 5,484
    TNTsTunes wrote: »
    I won the first Sony component auto CD player they made from a local radio station two weeks before they went on sale to the general public in the late summer/early fall of 1984.

    It had RCA's in(for the radio tuner/cassette player) and RCA's for an amp along with it's own volume control and tone controls. I also won a Sony radio, amp and speakers but my Alpine stuff was better then what I won.

    I still have the first CD I bought in 1980 too. It's Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and it still sounds great. I wonder how a newer re-mastered CD would sound in comparison???

    Are "The Wall" CD's on the "Harvest" label? (i.e. the first pressing of the CD's?) I would argue that the Harvest pressings of the Floyd CD's are as good (or better) than the remasters. The remasters are very good, however.

    Also, the original Genesis CD's absolutely blow away the remasters from the 90's. I do not buy or listen to the remixed/remasters. They're a waste of time, IMO.
    Relayer-Big-O-Poster.jpg
    Taken from a recent Audioholics reply regarding "Club Polk" and Polk speakers:
    "I'm yet to hear a Polk speaker that merits more than a sentence and 60 seconds discussion." :\
    My response is: If you need 60 seconds to respond in one sentence, you probably should't be evaluating Polk speakers.....


    "Green leaves reveal the heart spoken Khatru"- Jon Anderson

    "Have A Little Faith! And Everything You'll Face, Will Jump From Out Right On Into Place! Yeah! Take A Little Time! And Everything You'll Find, Will Move From Gloom Right On Into Shine!"- Arthur Lee
  • smglbrth
    smglbrth Posts: 1,458
    Magnavox, bought a new one in late '88. The laser worked ok but the drawer would never work right. Tried two of them, same problem. Bought a Hitachi DA-009 that never had an issue. I liked that player...
    Remember, when you're running from something, you're running to something...-me
  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,521
    I had the Carver for a short time in the 80's. It was way too fussy with inperfect discs, so I sold it.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,521
    Ever notice how thick, heavy earlier CD's were? The majority of my collection was bought in the early/mid 80's, and those CD's are heftier.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    steveinaz wrote: »
    Ever notice how thick, heavy earlier CD's were? The majority of my collection was bought in the early/mid 80's, and those CD's are heftier.

    No, truth be told, I hadn't -- I probably don't have any, though. The first one I bought (with malice aforethought) was the aformentioned Iggles... I mean, Eagles, ca. 1993 (give or take).

    Seems that the thickness would have been part of the Redbook spec(?).

  • daddyjt
    daddyjt Posts: 2,305
    steveinaz wrote: »
    Ever notice how thick, heavy earlier CD's were? The majority of my collection was bought in the early/mid 80's, and those CD's are heftier.

    I pulled out my first CD (Michael Jackson's Bad) and sure enough - it is thicker. Never noticed that... the disc still has remnants of the green magic marker around the outer edge, too (what can I say - I was still a gullible high school kid).
    "Conservative Libertarians love the country, progressive leftists love the government." - Andrew Wilkow


    “Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
    ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn