Good afternoon all, I hope everyone is remaining safe and indoors! I've been researching higher-end vintage CD players for the last 6 months and I just can't seem to locate something that I'm 100% convinced of so far. I was looking into the Technics SL-P770, the 777, and the 999, but the only ones available are much higher than I would like to spend, and apparently have had optical issues. Apparently it is also not possible to replace these parts unless you have another unit. Those reports have me a little timid. The Technics SL-P520 seems like a little step down, but still a pretty nice unit. I generally stand behind Technics, and I would love to hear people's suggestions on vintage CD players, especially Technics if that's your preference. Thanks!
Let's Talk Higher-End Vintage CD players!
- Thread starter cjsvinyl
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That's a little creepy. I didn't realize my personal reasons would be desired on a forum that I figured was more professional. Before I go into any personal details (should I decide to), maybe you could explain the relevance of your question and why you feel it's pertinent to anything.
benricci
Super Member
I didn't realize it was a "creepy" question. I was just curious what drew you to vintage CD players, as opposed to more modern ones. Is it the DACs? Is it the build quality? Is there something else I might be missing out on?
Because maybe we share similar interests and you could have reasons that would be interesting to me for future purchases, as well.
Jeez. Forget I asked. Good luck with your search.
If anyone else has a professional response, that's why I chose AudioKarma. I figured since the Digital Sources topic has literally hundreds of CD Player posts, that this would be fine to post my inquiry here just like so many others did before me. Let me know if you're able to help, and let's just stick to the questions. I appreciate it.
swechsler
Frog Whisperer
First of all, while we do have a few pros who participate, in general, this isn't a professional forum, it's a hobbyist forum. Second, there was nothing wrong with the question that @benricci asked, and he already explained his reasoning. Maybe you could explain what's creepy about the question he asked. Would it have been better if he had said "what is it about vintage CD players that you're looking for"?
David_NC
Super Member
That's not generally how I reply in my threads asking unpaid non-professionals for assistance. Benricci asked you that question in the most polite way I can imagine, and it was relevant. Perhaps you had an old Sony CD player that really looked nice and sounded good but no longer worked. A member could likely give you tips on getting it functioning again or suggest a replacement. If you were trying to match cosmetics of a particular amp or receiver, like I'm attempting to do, suggestions of models that look good with silver-faced equipment would be very useful.
Knowing what's important to you in an old CD player will likely get you far more suggestions than leaving that out, though with your reply above, that may well be a lost cause for this thread.
I had an old Technics that I liked, though it was an older and lesser model than those you mentioned. It was followed by a Sony. Both stopped working in the early 00's, and I never attempted to repair them. I'll probably try to revive the old Technics at some point, since it was my first CD player. Neither had digital outputs, so I'd be stuck with whatever DAC's are in them, unless they can be upgraded somehow. I always liked the old Kyocera CD players but never found a good deal on one.
Then I've been grossly misinformed and will need to take it up with my informer who regarded AudioKarma as, "The only real professional forum that exists on the internet." This has turned into the same old-fashioned, "The forum stands by the person who has a higher number of posts, while the New Member is the one made to feel as the one in the wrong." situation that gives such glimmering light to the word, Forum.
1) Just because someone has a higher post count on a forum does not automatically mean their posts are valid and someone with less should automatically be belittled. But it's what happens all the time on places like this. You guys argue more to get your post counts up rather than just sticking to the original subject matter.
2) There wasn't anything wrong TO YOU, about his question. That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to feel slightly off put or annoyed from a snarky remark to my original post. It's not for you to understand, or continue drilling. I'm allowed to feel that way. The better thing to do would have been to simply move forward. But no, that was too difficult for AK.
3) His question had no relevance whatsoever to my original question. I didn't ask the question to get that another inquiry, and a snarky one at that. I asked my question to simply have it be addressed. In that instance, I did nothing wrong.
4) To further go off of that third note, I kindly addressed everyone in the hopes of good health, and kindness. Then I followed up with the topic of my post, requesting information about that, not to go into all this other stuff about the WHY.
5) Ben did BS me, even though he and apparently you and probably others will deny it to their graves. His further unprofessional response saying, "I was just curious about what drew you to them" and "Because maybe we share similar interests and you could have reasons that would be interesting to me for future purchases" Those are Born Yesterday, or Scapegoat responses. That's not at all what he meant from his original, snarky response to my question.
6) ANY rationale that I provide you or anyone else on this joke of a site, will not matter at all. That's the way people like you are wired. You will ignore anyone else's feelings on a subject, and instead continue to argue if it doesn't mesh with your mentality. Once more, reasons to simply build on your post count, wasting time. You will argue to the bitter end, rather than a simple, "Okay, so here's what I would recommend, " and preferring that this is the route that we go.
You want reasons why it doesn't match up with YOUR viewpoints, but I shouldn't be drilled for things that don't even pertain to the original question. Now, of course everyone gangs up on the new member when all I wanted was to just simply move forward and talk about the topic. I could have drilled him into the ground with insults, but I chose the higher road, and you guys just kept drilling and drilling. You couldn't just move forward. This environment is not designed to help someone who is new, it's designed for control.
I'll just sign out because that's clearly what is desired here. The only other thing for me to leave you with is, what did you accomplish today? What good did you do to help me, and far more important, what good have you done yourselves? You haven't accomplished anything good, nothing professional behavior was handled here, and I was made to feel belittled just because I didn't want to invest into a whole other conversation and stray away from the original topic. I wanted to believe that AudioKarma was different. Now I know you're all just as much of a joke as a Best Buy representative. Bye.
1) Just because someone has a higher post count on a forum does not automatically mean their posts are valid and someone with less should automatically be belittled. But it's what happens all the time on places like this. You guys argue more to get your post counts up rather than just sticking to the original subject matter.
2) There wasn't anything wrong TO YOU, about his question. That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to feel slightly off put or annoyed from a snarky remark to my original post. It's not for you to understand, or continue drilling. I'm allowed to feel that way. The better thing to do would have been to simply move forward. But no, that was too difficult for AK.
3) His question had no relevance whatsoever to my original question. I didn't ask the question to get that another inquiry, and a snarky one at that. I asked my question to simply have it be addressed. In that instance, I did nothing wrong.
4) To further go off of that third note, I kindly addressed everyone in the hopes of good health, and kindness. Then I followed up with the topic of my post, requesting information about that, not to go into all this other stuff about the WHY.
5) Ben did BS me, even though he and apparently you and probably others will deny it to their graves. His further unprofessional response saying, "I was just curious about what drew you to them" and "Because maybe we share similar interests and you could have reasons that would be interesting to me for future purchases" Those are Born Yesterday, or Scapegoat responses. That's not at all what he meant from his original, snarky response to my question.
6) ANY rationale that I provide you or anyone else on this joke of a site, will not matter at all. That's the way people like you are wired. You will ignore anyone else's feelings on a subject, and instead continue to argue if it doesn't mesh with your mentality. Once more, reasons to simply build on your post count, wasting time. You will argue to the bitter end, rather than a simple, "Okay, so here's what I would recommend, " and preferring that this is the route that we go.
You want reasons why it doesn't match up with YOUR viewpoints, but I shouldn't be drilled for things that don't even pertain to the original question. Now, of course everyone gangs up on the new member when all I wanted was to just simply move forward and talk about the topic. I could have drilled him into the ground with insults, but I chose the higher road, and you guys just kept drilling and drilling. You couldn't just move forward. This environment is not designed to help someone who is new, it's designed for control.
I'll just sign out because that's clearly what is desired here. The only other thing for me to leave you with is, what did you accomplish today? What good did you do to help me, and far more important, what good have you done yourselves? You haven't accomplished anything good, nothing professional behavior was handled here, and I was made to feel belittled just because I didn't want to invest into a whole other conversation and stray away from the original topic. I wanted to believe that AudioKarma was different. Now I know you're all just as much of a joke as a Best Buy representative. Bye.
I don't know about the OP, but if I had a relatively modest budget for a CD player, I'd rather spend it on a high quality vintage unit than on a made-from-plastic modern unit at the same modest price. I don't ascribe to the "newer is better" presumption at all -- sometimes it's true, many times it isn't. Of course, you'd need to make sure the vintage player you chose still had the functionality needed for today, and pick a brand/model that is known to be reliable/repairable, which I suspect is why he asked the question.
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David_NC
Super Member
His other posts indicate that he has an 'exceptional' system, so I'm not sure if the 'modest budget' applies. Besides, old players may be more repairable, if parts are available, but they generally don't have DACs as good as more current models, and many don't have digital outputs to get around that. With many amps, receivers, tuners, turntables, etc, I completely agree about being more repairable. There's a point where cheap 'made-from-plastic' starts and quality ends. There are some fine players from the mid-late 90's and early 00's that are quite affordable. Come into the 00's, and you'll be good to play SACD and/or DVD-A discs to get even better sound on an 'exceptional'' system.
Sometimes, people's issues run far deeper than choosing audio equipment...
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Yup.
Literally thousands of folks on AK with different views and knowledge bases. Be patient and someone with shared interest may come along 
halkaloogie
The Jerk
Wow, this went up in flames quick. I wonder what got the OP so fired up. But by the tone of his response, I don't think he'll be back.
He (are you reading this?) only had 10 posts and wasn't prepared for questions, apparently.
I did the same one time, joined a forum, wasn't prepared for the bantering, trash talk and I totally went off on EVERYONE. I was in the wrong, I misunderstood the intent.
It was the Carver forum (I think/?), I did go back and sincerely apologize.
OP, if you are here, just don't get worked up, it's the internet. Ask again.
I did the same one time, joined a forum, wasn't prepared for the bantering, trash talk and I totally went off on EVERYONE. I was in the wrong, I misunderstood the intent.
It was the Carver forum (I think/?), I did go back and sincerely apologize.
OP, if you are here, just don't get worked up, it's the internet. Ask again.
Kind of a shame. The reason I checked out this thread was that I felt interested in the topic. I suppose we could push on without the OP. I would have some questions up front, like how do you define vintage when talking about CD players? Where does high end kick in? I have and still enjoy an Onkyo C-7000r. Would that be vintage? If I remember correctly, it ran about 1500. Would that be high end? Last and not least, would I be required to become, or at minimum, act thin skinned to take part in this thread?
duncan
flâneur in training
There can't be a right answer to those I guess - it's up to us to decide what we're talking about. Being a sort of disc player junkie, I'm often scouting around for something exotic, but what exactly I mean by that seems to vary with the phases of the moon. Old stuff is interesting, boutique stuff is interesting, heavy stuff is interesting. If I'm honest, even just having once been expensive makes something kinda interesting. I'd dearly love to get my hands on a working JVC XL-V1 or one of the handful of similar designs, but as a historical curiosity - I have no expectations about anything made that long ago being likely to sound very good even if it can be fully restored. Though I'm perfectly willing to be educated on that point.
Nah, we can keep it "professional." BTW what are you wearing?
gizzyman47
Addicted Member
I'm wearing "khaki'es" said Jake from state farm.