Happy With Your Portable CD Player?

KeninDC

KeninDC

Hazy Cosmic Jive
If so, what do you use for the pool, beach, camping, etc. when you want to play CDs/radio and have decent sound with dependable portability all for less than $100?

No iPod solutions (I will be sharing with non iPod users) please - just your basic, smaller-than-a-big-ass-boombox CD/radio thing for summer relaxin'.

Thanks,

Ken
 
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no CD player for me - analog sound only

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I have some $40 MP3/CD/FM thing I got at Sam's Club about 5 years ago. Never had a problem with it.
 
Sony CD Walkman. Sounds good enough when on the go. Get better headphones for best sound. Use headphone out with 1/8" jack to drive other stuff. Runs hours on AA batteries :)
 
Sorry. I should have been clearer.

This is for shared listening. No headphone/iPod stuff.

Think "small boombox." No huge-ass JVC thing w/ detachable speakers, just a nice sounding stereo rig that can work on batteries.
 
You want a nice sounding, portable, non-head/ear phone device that (presumably) plays cds but is not an iPod? So a source/amp/speaker combo that's lightweight and good sounding, all for under $100? Man I like to find one of those too! Good luck!
 
Only slightly kidding...everything is iPod or iPod-ready these days. Even a small boombox can be easily used with a mini to rca cables. A couple of iPods velcro-d on top of a vintage boombox that runs on D batteries sounds like a good time!
 
I process literally sh*t-tons of portable players at a local recycling center. My advice - avoid anything with the name Aiwa on it. Panasonic makes some surprisingly durable product.
 
I have a Goldstar boom box with cassette and front loading cd player. Actually sounds pretty darn good. It has bass, midrange, treble with super tweeters in there.

Must be pushing 15 years old by now and still plays whenever I use it. Super, duper, easy to program the cd player also.
 
I got a Sony Walkman, a Sony diskman, and a Sony MP3 player.

The diskman is starting to show it's age; i've had it since the mid 2000s and it doesn't work as well as it used to.
The walkman is 15 years old (bought at a garage sale, my original walkman broke down long ago), and the MP3 player does it's job OK.

I also have a Philips CD/tuner/cassette boombox thing with detatched speakers, that's litterally been to hell and back. The speakers are water damaged, and the corner is chipped off one of them. The thing sat outside in a huge rainstorm once, but it still works, though it will hum on occasion.
 
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I have an old computer speaker cabinet (from the 90's - 4mm plastic!) loaded with a 4" Tang Band driver and a 30w bridged to mono amp-on-chip from an old car stereo. This lot is all powered by a 12v SLA battery duct-taped to the side. It's easily loud enough for 4-5 people to sit around, and the battery lasts for about 4 hours on full whack before it starts to sound fuzzy.

The 3.5mm jack input is hooked either to an old 90's Walkman stuck on top or an ipod.

Its appearence earnt it the nickname "the bomb" after I got pulled aside by security on holiday when I put it through the X-ray machine...

Right now it's on loan to a friend but I'll get some photos later.
 
Portable CD player + Sonic Impact T amp + Mini 7's = amazing portable system. :yes:
 
Got the Minimus 7s, but those are in my garage system.

Has anyone - recently - bought a cheapo unit from BB or online (Vanns?) that you are pleasantly surprised with? C'mon guys, help me out.

Summing up right now, we have 1) Aiwa sucks and 2) Panny is OK.

Does anyone even make small boom boxes? I checked Vanns and my guess is no.
 
As far as the portable CD boom boxes. I have yet to hear one that sounds even half decent. :thumbsdn:
 
I have a Sony D-25 discman that I bought in 1989 that still works great. Its all metal contruction body (including battery cover) makes it classic. The DAC clearly shows its age
 
I'm not a huge fan of my portable CD player. It's just a cheap plastic thompson/RCA thing I bought a couple years ago. They definitely don't make em like they used to.
 
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KeninDC said:
Does anyone even make small boom boxes? I checked Vanns and my guess is no.
Click to expand...

Nope, not even back in the heyday of the 80's when i worked retail and checked out more boomboxes than i care to begin to try and name specifically.

frahengeo said:
I have a Sony D-25 discman that I bought in 1989 that still works great. Its all metal construction body (including battery cover) makes it classic. The DAC clearly shows its age
Click to expand...

Agreed, and the 4x DAC has some 'magic' to it and the headphone output is strong as compared to modern units to boot. Also agree the DAC shows its age, yet very enjoyable sounding if a bit lacking in overall 24/192 resolution like moern digital disc units. i reviewed a few portable CD players at

www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0703/midmonth/bestportable.htm


x_25 said:
As far as the portable CD boom boxes. I have yet to hear one that sounds even half decent. :thumbsdn:
Click to expand...

Agreed so here is what i did way back in the day and still have this setup today. Be forewarned, i am also the type who also has a working Atari Lynx 'state-of-the-art' portable color video game, so when it comes to 80's toys/chachkies this writer was BIG TIME into it.

Used either a D-555 or D-25 (depending on my mood) and had a CaseLogic 30 cd holder. That held the music and the disc player in it. Has a show repair place sew on that industrial Velcro on each side of the CD case. Speaker were the Sony APM-007AV and had the corresponding Velcro on the appropriate side of the speaker for R/L channel. So it was speaker/case/speaker. While the volume range is lowish as compared to the big boomboxes of the time, this was a relatively compact system with very good sound quality imho. In fact at one time a few years back i 'bastardized' the APM amps and used them to drive Avantgarde Duos just to see how they faired against the Final Labs and 47 Labs amplifiers. When i took the volume control of the APM amps out of the signal chain (for best sound natch) they were close to the modern alternatives. Did not want to mod the amps so i out them back together inside the APMs like normal. A crazy guy coulda modded the amps more with Black Gates and...

And yes i am serious... and crazy. Well, you asked a simple question and so the above in my answer and i;m stickin' to it :music: Sorry, no modern equivs i can recommend that are battery powered. Non-battery and compact, get a D-25 and a pair of Audioengine A2.
 
mini semi component system. I created a rough design for a similar project that I never got around to making.

small mdf sub-speaker combo powered by t amp.

mdf box with 2 compartments, one with 2 Tang Band 3-4" drivers installed, the other with that 3.5" peerless subwoofer from PE and 2 3.5" peerless passives from madisound (PE doesnt carry them).

portable cd player (or ipod...whatever) goes into TCC preamp (amazon) powered by Black & Decker portable battery (from anywhere online, just google).


signal from source split
TB section powered by Dayton or SI T-amp, running full range.

Sub section runs through small 4 band EQ to roll off treble/mids, then into t amp or 30 watt amp board from PE or whatever.

Put them all in a medium sized briefcase.

total cost: around 300. It's a lot of money but you'll never need another and the system makes for a good computer audio setup to.
 
I should have known better than to ask a bunch of audio tweakers about this.:yes:

Now you've got me thinking outdoor speakers with a small, inside source since the main application will be poolside.

That being said, if I pick up a box, I'll report back about the POS.

Ken
 
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