The Compact Disc

steveinaz

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

Msabot1

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

Couple of old ones here in working condition. Dump finds, of course.

Technics old CDP by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
Sony 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?




^^ 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

This is the coolest "vintage" 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.

DSC_6315_zps1998048c by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

daddyjt

This was my first - Ironically, I still have it, with 7 magazines and the remote... AND it still works just fine:-)

steveinaz

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.

mhardy6647

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

My friend had a Magnavox and one cd, Street Survivors by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I'm still sick of that disc!!!!!

mhardy6647

I had The Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 for the longest time

Viking64

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!

mhardy6647

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.

P1020535(1) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Photo from 2007

TNTsTunes

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???

Conradicles

I own several early Magnavox CD spinners. They got it right.

daddyjt

daddyjt wrote: »

This was my first - Ironically, I still have it, with 7 magazines and the remote... AND it still works just fine:-)

Picture disappeared in original post...:-(

nooshinjohn

I would love to have one of these...

mhardy6647

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.

TNTsTunes

Conradicles wrote: »

I own several early Magnavox CD spinners. They got it right.

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

mhardy6647

TNTsTunes wrote: »

Conradicles 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

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.

Viking64

mhardy6647 wrote: »

I had The Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 for the longest time

Hermitism

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.

motorhead43026

Most new cars come less CD players anymore don't they?

Hermitism

motorhead43026 wrote: »

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

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

nooshinjohn wrote: »

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

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.

smglbrth

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...

steveinaz

I had the Carver for a short time in the 80's. It was way too fussy with inperfect discs, so I sold it.

steveinaz

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.

mhardy6647

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

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).