Price Paid:  $100.00 from Pawn shop

Summary:
A tank of a player for the money.I think this model is essentially the same as the 370.Midway,soundwise,between the crispest and the darkest sounding players I have heard.(Multi-bit players tend to be more harsh,less "analog" sounding than this type?)*Remember that this 6-disc model is several inches longer than a 5-disc player in back,so measure your space first*.Cannot do anymore overall,any better,pricewise,than this beast of burden.Onkyo is the working-man's friend,almost "a drunkard's dream if I ever have seen one"...I give 5 stars for value,no- problem.And,if each star represents 20-percent out of 100(5-times 20,OK?),and I give this an overall-rating of 92,because 8- percent better is all you can realisically expect from even the most costly players (yes,we pay thousands more for incremental improvements.Do not deny it.),I give this product 5 stars for overall status because it is really so close to the best you'll find,(100%).Which does not mean I am not looking,trying to spend more at every available chance...

Strengths:
Solid,single-bit playback,good sound,not harsh or too bright,usual Onkyo (good) build-quality and reliability,inexpensive,6-disc capacity,ability to change 5 discs while playing one is a nice touch.

Weaknesses:
Extra-large size due to 6-disc capacity will barely fit on my audio-rack.

Similar Products Used:
Phillips-Magnavox,Sony,(others auditioned I could never afford.)

Price Paid:  $260.00 from Tweeter

Summary:
This POS worked OK for a while, though it was a little flakey right from the start. I should have taken it back, but the problem was only reproducible about 2% of the time, at first. When you tried to play a CD, it would start to spin up, then make this god-awful whirring sound (turns out it was dropping the CD back into the turntable while it was still spinning). After two years, it got so this happened every time. So knowing that I was throwing it in the trash anyway, I ripped the whole thing apart, knowing full well what I would find. Sure enough, the nylon gear that tracks the laser back and forth was worn out and skipping. Nylon residue was visible on the toothed track. I would have gladly paid fifteen cents more for the unit to get metal gears! I'm pretty sure all CD players are made this way, at least the affordable ones. But how much more would it cost to use metal instead of nylon gears, especially in high-torque applications? Planned obsolescence, how quaint.

Strengths:
Worked OK sometimes for a while

Weaknesses:
PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE AT ITS FINEST

Similar Products Used:
All CD players use cheap nylon gears, so who cares?

Price Paid:  $199.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
This thing is 1 1/2 years old and is flawless. I have it paired to an Onkyo Tx 8511 reciever with Kimber Kable Silver Streak interconnects. I also use Kimber 4TC speaker cables. At this price range a lot of people run wire connections that come in the box. That was my most important learning experience so far with audio equiptment, buy good interconects/cables. The new stuff has digital interconnects, but I would still use quality interconnects for that application also. Onkyo rolls!!!!!!!!

Strengths:
Sound, Reliability.

Weaknesses:
no digital out

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $179.00 from ABT Electronics

Summary:
Onkyo has taken a giant step forward with this model. For price conscious consumers this unit is hard to beat. I recently returned a comperable Yamaha CDC-675 in exchange for this one. The sound equaled that of the Yamaha. Period. The highs where crisp and distortion free. The midranges were clear. My sub-woofer sounds were distinct and lacked exageration. The ease of operation surpassed that of the Yamaha as well. This is a 6 disc changer ulike the Yamaha's which was a five. (not terribly important however) Most carosel drawers tend to wobble. The Onkyo slides in and out with virtually no "up and down" or "side by side" wobble. This is important in that it will it will be less likely to fall off the tracks when knocked. Disc changing while the carosel is open is made easy by simply pushing a button that will rotate the carosel. The Yamaha never rotated and you had to labor with your fingers to add and remove discs to the various numbered positions. The memory function holds up to 40 tracks and can be operated from the remote. Also for those of you who DO NOT want to rely on the remote all the time, all operating options are located on the unit itself. Therfore you DO NOT have to use the remote for such things as operations in the "repeat" and "random" modes. With the Yamaha, you could only use the remote. All in all, you get a lot of bang for your buck.

Strengths:
quiet operation, disc changes quickly, carousel is more stable than most changers

Weaknesses:
Display is small and hard to read. Nothing else

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha CDC-675

Summary:
I have an TX-8211 reciever to this cd-changer and JBL TLX-320 loudspeakers with Canaré cables (the fat model). Although the sound I have might not be accurate to what real hifi means, exact natural sound that is. The sound I have and enjoy is very clear and comfortable listening to.
One hears every drum being played at and every cymbal is very clear high and crisp.. so I perfectly satisfied with this cd-changer and can recommend it to everyone.

Strengths:
Good detailed sound and programmingabilities.

Weaknesses:
Almost none.. bad remote maybe...

Similar Products Used:
none