[LugBug1]

Just pulled the trigger on a 1988 Technics SL-P550 in mint condition, so while I'm awaiting Mr Postman I thought it would be nice to hear from anyone else who owns/owned a vintage cd player. 
 
It seems they will all become a thing of the past soon, but I'm looking for the classic years from early eighties through the nineties. 
 
Were they better made then? Have the converters improved over the years? Or is it more a case of taste.. I do know that the old Philips TDA1541 chips are still very sought after, and I own an Arcam Black Box with one implemented and it still sounds very capable compared to modern chips. More musical and warm, albeit without the same level of detail. 
 
The older machines certainly look the business! Where have all the buttons gone these days ha!
 
Anyhow, would love to see pics of any gear you have or have had, with optional views of it.  
 
Heres a pic of my upcoming Technics
 

 
 
 

 

[gregjnjarvis]

I have a badass Beogram CD50 from 1984, as part of a Beosystem 5000.  It's really cool, but the motorized tray failed a couple years back and it can only be fixed by ordering some parts from a guy in the Netherlands and doing it yourself.....I may get around to it one day, but it's hardly seemed worth the trouble at this point.
 
http://www.beophile.com/wp-content/produits/beogramcd50a.jpg
 

 

[LugBug1]

Thats a beauty and very minimalistic design for the period. Suppose that's what you would expect from the Bang and Olufsen designers. Their second cd player (following the seperate CDX) and it uses burr brown decoders according your link. Very dependant on the remote control it seems. 
 
Great stuff, thanks for sharing that

 

[jwdjwd67]

Unlike Amps cd player don't age well. The DAC's have improved light years from early cd players. They are really only suitable for at best transports or more likely objets d'art, IMO.

 

[LugBug1]

  Unlike Amps cd player don't age well. The DAC's have improved light years from early cd players. They are really only suitable for at best transports or more likely objets d'art, IMO.

While I agree that Dac chips have improved, the implementation of them is always the key regardless of age. The early Philips/Marantz cd players for e.g are really quite sort after for their sound, because the looks of these very early models do nothing for eye haha 
 
As always it will be a matter of taste, and of course nostalgia. But I'm also old enough to know that newer isn't always better!  

 

[Sapientiam]

My first CD player was a CD160, one of the first to have TDA1541 - a real 16bit chip. No pics though because it got stolen eons ago.
 
I disagree that DAC chips have gotten better. Implementations have - nowadays NOS and passive I/V rule for the ultimate SQ, but TDA1541A is still king of the heap for RBCD.

 

[LugBug1]

Philips CD160 
 

 

[jwdjwd67]

I'm sorry I should have been more clear. You are definitely right. New does not equal good at all. the New mass market stuff is still crap regardless of the innovations in DAC technology. If given the choice between a vintage objets d'art cd player and a new mas market cd player I would pick the vintage. But there are available now new cd players and D/A processors that will trounce all but the most sophisticated vintage technology. I'm partial to Arcam players but the Marantz CD5004 is reputed to be a world beater at its price point of $350. Personally, I have ditched cd playing altogether and extract to flac and use a D/A processor. I am extremely pleased with the results.

 

[LugBug1]

  I'm sorry I should have been more clear. You are definitely right. New does not equal good at all. the New mass market stuff is still crap regardless of the innovations in DAC technology. If given the choice between a vintage objets d'art cd player and a new mas market cd player I would pick the vintage. But there are available now new cd players and D/A processors that will trounce all but the most sophisticated vintage technology. I'm partial to Arcam players but the Marantz CD5004 is reputed to be a world beater at its price point of $350. Personally, I have ditched cd playing altogether and extract to flac and use a D/A processor. I am extremely pleased with the results.

Yeah I've been pretty much solely using a DAC and PC for the last few years. I've owned a few CD players over the years from the likes of Marantz and Cambridge Audio. My last Marantz was the cd5001. It was pleasant enough, but seemed a little hard sounding. Not the most engaging sound I've heard from a cd player. That was of course a lower end. My father owns an Arcam 73 and that sounds amazing. I wish he would upgrade again so that I can have that one ha!
 
I like the convenience of having all my music at the touch of a finger, but I also have mountains of cd's in storage aswell. So I'm looking forward to delving into my archives.   

 

[palmfish]

My old CD player died in the early 90's. I threw it in a dumpster.
 
Here's my system as it looked in 1985. The CD player is a Mitsubishi DP-103. That's my friend Mike in the picture

 

 

[Oregonian]

As requested, here's one of the three I still own.  It's a Yamaha Natural Sound from the late '80's I believe and sounds great into my Kenwood KA-5700 integrated amp in my main head fi station by the recliner.
 
I've since changed it to feed from the front, facing the same way as my Kenwood is, and the equalizer is long gone.  The iPhone4 now feeds into a NuForce iDo DAC and sounds fantastic. 
 

 

[whoever]

Maaaaaaan these pics bring me right back to my childhood!!!!! Love it! Will post pics soon!!!


And say hello to mike! Now he's a hipster again!!

 

[captouch]

I have two.  First is a Sony CDP-950, which has the TDA1541 DAC:
 

 
I did some mods, changing the decoupling caps to better quality Wima film caps. 
Original:

 
And after (the new caps are big, so some went underneath the PCB - you can't see those):

 
And also a Luxman D-405:

 
It has the biggest/thickest tray/drawer I've seen:

 
No mods on the Luxman. . .yet.

 

[palmfish]

  I have two.  First is a Sony CDP-950, which has the TDA1541 DAC:
 

 

 
Is that Sony player the one with the "and" and "to" buttons and numeric keypad for programming? You could literally enter "1 and 3 to 6 and 9" and the player would play tracks 1,3,4,5,6,9. My dad bought one back in the early 90's I think and my mom still has it.

 

[captouch]

   
Is that Sony player the one with the "and" and "to" buttons and numeric keypad for programming? You could literally enter "1 and 3 to 6 and 9" and the player would play tracks 1,3,4,5,6,9. My dad bought one back in the early 90's I think and my mom still has it.

 
I don't have the original remote.  The guy I got it from gave me a remote that works, but not the original.  There's no "and" and "to" on the unit itself - maybe the original remote had them, but not sure.  It's a nice sounding player though.