Marantz CDR 610 and Sound Quality

[OddE.O'Phile]

Recently picked up a used Marantz CDR 610 professional cd recorder/player. This is a unit which is primarily found in professional recording studios. I have not done any critical listening because I am waiting on some XLR to RCA adaptors for the output jacks to patch it into my home stereo. The only recording I have done was a test from the tuner and I listened on headphones. It sounded great but was far from definitive.

I'm wondering what kind of sound quality to expect when I record from vinyl sources to this cd recorder. What are the pros and cons? Anyone have direct experience with this model? What about other cd recorders?

 

[Ed in Tx]

Recently picked up a used Marantz CDR 610 professional cd recorder/player. ...I'm wondering what kind of sound quality to expect when I record from vinyl sources to this cd recorder. What are the pros and cons? Anyone have direct experience with this model? What about other cd recorders?

Can't say exactly about your 610, but I have a Marantz CDR 500 a model that predates yours, and it makes excellent recordings from analog sources (LPs). Mine has both RCA and XLR connections so no adaptors necessary.

 

[OddE.O'Phile]

I'm also wondering about the vinyl to cd recorder vs. the usb turntables so many people are using to transfer vinyl to digital. It would seem like having a cd deck like this would be better, but I can't say that I have any idea why. I know this model had an msrp of $3000 when it was new, but that was I believe in the early 90's, and I don't know what something like this goes for now.

 

[Ed in Tx]

I'm also wondering about the vinyl to cd recorder vs. the usb turntables so many people are using to transfer vinyl to digital. It would seem like having a cd deck like this would be better, but I can't say that I have any idea why..

Everything from the turntable, cartridge, phono preamp, and A-D converter in the CD recorder will have an effect on sound quality. If all that is of high quality the net result will be far superior to any USB turntable results.

 

[tx_polkhead]

That look like a serious piece of equipment, bet it's built like a tank!

 

[steerpike2]

The same machine in different skins:
Carver PDR-10
Philips CDR-850
Marantz CDR-1 / CDR-610
Studer D-740

I have the Studer & it sounds VERY VERY good.
However, it will not record reliably on recent 700MB discs, and the 650MB discs are impossible to find anymore.

 

[Ed in Tx]

The same machine in different skins:
Carver PDR-10
Philips CDR-850
Marantz CDR-1 / CDR-610
Studer D-740

I have the Studer & it sounds VERY VERY good.
However, it will not record reliably on recent 700MB discs, and the 650MB discs are impossible to find anymore.

Same probem I have with my 10 year old Marantz. Will not work with newer all silver discs I've tried from TDK and Memorex.
The solution for me is using Taiyo Yuden brand Silver/Blue CD-R media. Works fine with those.

"This type of media consists of the standard silver surface and cyanine dye on the burning surface. This type of dye is most compatible media for older CD-R/RW DRIVES."

I bought mine here but you might find a better deal. I've seen these available from Amazon and other sources.

 

[steerpike2]

The solution for me is using Taiyo Yuden brand Silver/Blue CD-R media. Works fine with those.

AH! Well thanks for that input!
I'm wondering WHY it doesn't like new discs, since it does go through the OPC (optical power calibration) process when it finds a new type of disc.

Internally, there are trimpots for Write Laser Current, and Read Laser Current, but I cannot find any information on them or calibration procedures / measurements. The sevice manual covers everything BUT the actual optical block.

Doesn't bother me too much since I don't much need a stand-alone CD recorder - assembling it all on a computer gets more 'controllable' results as far as the TOC and cue-points are concerned. Its nice as a player though.

 

[Ed in Tx]

AH! Well thanks for that input!....
Doesn't bother me too much since I don't much need a stand-alone CD recorder - assembling it all on a computer gets more 'controllable' results as far as the TOC and cue-points are concerned. Its nice as a player though.

I only use my old Marantz CD recorder to get the audio off of LPs (and occasionally a cassette or reel-to-reel tape), because it has such nice sounding low noise A-D converters compared to the lesser quality I get from the computer. That's the first step in my process. I do one LP side at a time, and once it's "digitized", I rip that big wav file onto the computer, divide it into appropriate tracks and add track markers, clean up any noises between the tracks, and save as individiual wav files to burn to a CD Audio disc.

 

[steerpike2]

because it has such nice sounding low noise A-D converters compared to the lesser quality I get from the computer.

Damn, that fact had gone right out of my head! A while ago I even went out and bought (still unused in my toybox) some SPDIF-to-USB chips for exactly that purpose.

The Studer will record on 'data' CDRs, I dont know if the machine in its other guises will, or if those ones want 'digital audio' tagged discs. I think it pre-dates the whole record industry levy scam.

 

[Ed in Tx]

The Studer will record on 'data' CDRs, I dont know if the machine in its other guises will, or if those ones want 'digital audio' tagged discs. I think it pre-dates the whole record industry levy scam.

When I bought the Marantz in '99, the consumer CD recorders would only record on the much more expensive at the time "Music" CD-Rs that had a prepaid copyright fee in the price. So I bought a Marantz "Pro" machine for considerably more $$ that would record on any discs, data or "music".