CD DOINGS
-----------The NEC CD-803E is one of the few CD players offering wireless
remote control of all functions.
The Summer Consumer Electronics Show, held in Chicago June 5th through 8th, may well have been a reflection of the economic recovery that is leading the country out of the recession. According to the EIA, an all-time CES record was set with an attendance of 83,311. Buoyed by the "official" U.S. introduction of the digital Compact Disc and many high-tech products in the computer field, the mood was very positive and upbeat, with most of the audio contingent expressing satisfaction with the Show.
Once again the video games, computers, computer software and telephones got the lion's share of space in the daily trade papers, but it was hard to ignore audio, for the Compact Disc was everywhere. Apparently, many of the high-end audio companies at the Conrad Hilton felt obliged to use the CD for demonstration purposes. Thus, a stroll through the halls of that hotel was a good opportunity to audition quite a variety of CD players. The companies who actually manufacture CD players were scattered throughout the main exhibits. A good percentage of the players shown were production models, while there were also a number of prototypes.
Naturally, most of these manufacturers claim their players have special features that make them superior to the competition. As you might expect, most of these features are in the area of special bells and whistles functions, but there are some technical differences between a number of the CD players. With our present relatively limited experience with CD playback, it is too early to draw any firm conclusions as to which unit affords the best CD reproduction.
Among CD players I saw at the show was the NEC CD-803E. This vertical-play unit is physically one of the biggest players in the market. Up to 99 selections can be programmed to play in any order. The CD-803E is one of the few CD players offering wireless re mote control of all functions. There is digital display of a number of time functions as well as track number. Purportedly, the CD-803E is equipped with a phase-shift correction filter, similar to the Meyer Sound MS-8201, which I reported on in the March 1983 issue of Audio. The CD-803E is expected to sell for $1,000.
Marantz introduced their CD73 programmable CD player. Unlike most Japanese CD players, the CD73 uses the Philips oversampling and noise-shaping D-to-A technology, which is said to permit the use of an anti-aliasing filter with a far less steep cutoff than the Sony-type filter. This also al lows Marantz to use a digital rather than an analog filter. A front-loader, the CD73 will sell for $999.
Yamaha's CD-1 player is one of the most uncluttered and elegantly styled players I have seen. A front-loader, Yamaha makes much of its own high-gain phase-detector servo-tracking system and independent, 16-bit linear D-to-A converters for each channel. (Most CD players use one converter and a switch to derive left and right channels.) Yamaha also uses independent power supplies for digital and analog circuits, and they claim superior error correction with a double Cross-Interleave Reed-Solomon code.
Sansui says their PC-V1000 CD player should be available by the time you read this. The player has a horizontal slot for front loading, and they claim their three-beam laser pickup will afford accurate signal retrieval even when a CD is scratched beyond the capability of the more common single-beam laser pickup. The Sansui PC-V1000 has a specially developed combination digital/analog filter, intended to reduce analog processing to a mini mum. A wireless remote control gives random access to individual tracks. The price of the Sansui PC-V1000 CD player is $1,000.
Akai was showing its CD-D1 digital disc player. The unit uses front loading and offers a 10-key, high-speed random-access programmer which can program 24 selections in any order of playback. Akai claims a special D-to-A converter affords superior sound. The CD-D1 will also cost $1,000.
Magnavox (owned by Philips) was making a big splash considering that they were the only company with three different CD player models. Their Super Compact, the FD-1000, is a very basic unit. It is the smallest CD player on. the market, and has top loading but no programmability. The FD-2000 is also a top-loading player, in a slim-line configuration with many conveniences.
The FD-3000 is a front-loading CD player with full programming capability and other bells and whistles. All of these Magnavox CD players use the Philips oversampling and noise-shaping technology, permitting a gentler cutoff by the anti-aliasing filter. The only price, thus far, is $800 for the ultra-compact FD-1000.
Denon has 200 of their dealers demonstrating CDs, mostly of their own manufacture, with a prototype DCD 2000 CD player. This unit will not be marketed, but will give way to a more sophisticated second-generation unit.
At this CES, Denon was demonstrating its professional DN-3000F, for broad cast applications. As you might expect of a unit of this type, all its mechanisms are heavy-duty for extended use and long-term stability. Such amenities as precision cueing and delayed starting are provided as well as extensive time base information display. Twin VU output-level meters are supplied, and the output level of the DN-3000F is +4 dBm balanced.
Kyocera showed its DA-01 CD player, a front-loading vertical-play unit. It has programmed play for up to 24 selections and an elaborate track manipulating function which permits indexing (selection of sections within a given recording) and all sorts of other retrieval functions. The Kyocera DA-01 is said to be much favored by digital people in the know, because the unit not only uses the Philips over-sampling and noise-shaping technology, but employs a phase-shift correction filter as well. Price of the DA-01 is $1,050.
Technics attracted a lot of attention with its SL-P10 CD player. The unit features one of the most elaborate programming functions of any CD player now on the market. Up to 63 individual selections can be programmed and played in any sequence. Press a but ton on the SL-P10 and a motorized loading door swings open. Insert a CD into the vertical slot-and presto!-the disc is automatically loaded into the slot and the door closes. Matsushita manufactures their Technics SL-P10 player and they are particularly proud of the fact that virtually every part of the unit is made by them. Special ICs and LSIs were developed for the unit, as were 16-bit high-speed D/A converters, a precision error-correction LSI using Technics' Super Decoding Algorithm, and even the semi conductor laser pickup system. The Technics SL-P10 will cost $1,000.
Sony was not officially at the SCES, but they were holding forth at a mid town hotel where, among other things, they were showing their second-generation CD player! Yes, that is a bit startling, when other companies have yet to get their first CD players to market.
There are various refinements of course, one of the principal things being the inclusion of a phase shift correction filter. Sony apparently is one of the few companies making CD players where the program remains audible in the fast forward and reverse modes.
Sony's new CDP-701ES will retail for $1,500 and be available in September. Our review starts on page 50.
As to the CD software situation, important steps have been taken to en sure a structured, orderly, reliable re lease schedule. The Compact Disc Group was formed under the auspices of the RIAA (Recording Industry Assn. of America); the members of this group are virtually all manufacturers of CD players and most of the record companies who are-or will be-producing CDs. They have issued their first catalog and it will be updated quarterly, perhaps going monthly in 1984. In the meanwhile the Polygram group (Decca, Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, et al.), have pledged to have 100 titles available in the U.S. by August 1, 1983. Thereafter, 30 new titles per month will be released, with a total of 200 for all of 1983. Eighty of the 100 CD titles are classical, 20 are pop.
Polygram expects to increase the capacity of its Hanover, Germany CD pressing plant to 10 million discs in 1984! Obviously, this column was devoted to the Compact Digital Disc at its official debut at the 1983 SCES. I think it is one of the most significant new audio technologies to emerge since the introduction of stereophonic sound in 1958.
It must be noted that it is not just the Compact Disc in itself that is so important, but the startling changes in virtually all aspects of audio and recording it will engender.
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(Source: Audio magazine, Sept. 1983; Bert Whyte )
Also see:
Stax Electrostatic Earspeakers (ad, Aug. 1984)
Stax SRX-II Electrostatic Earspeaker system (ad, April 1975)
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