Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Same problem as others have mentioned - drive broke and >surprise< no replacement parts were available. Near-criminal support from Marantz for pro gear and a pretty clear indication of bad product design. This is without question the last piece of Marantz gear I'll ever purchase. It's not worth the small initial cost savings to have to risk this kind of expensive failure.

Weaknesses:
User interface is cryptic, at best.

Price Paid:  $600.00 from Hollywood DJ

Summary:
I'm not going to go into too much detail about the " positives " of the CDR500. Prior reviewers have done a solid job of talking about all the things this unit does well and I agree with those reviews. However, what I do not like about the CDR500 is that Marantz used Philips drives which have the " known issue " of dying sooner than later. To make matters worse, these drives are hard to find and replace.....and there's no guarantee that they'll last. I used my CDR500 off and on for about 2-3 years.....hardly using it to record as much as I would expect a " professional " DJ or someone in a small studio would.........and my CDR drive died on me. And here's the fun part, it's a $500.00 fix to replace the dead drive and that's if you can find a replacement drive! For a " professional " piece of gear which has been used in a non-professional way(only about 80-100 hours of use).....that's a big let-down. Not too happy with Marantz on this one.
To justify that price, this unit needs some work in many areas. Maybe they corrected the mistake they made on the CDR500 in their replacement model(CDR510) by using different CDR drives? However, the doesn't solve my problem of owning a $600 CDR which now requires a $500 fix to make it more than just the sizeable paperweight it is now. Not cool Marantz. Where's the customer service on this unit?

Strengths:
See prior reviews from other reviewers here on Audio Review.

Weaknesses:
Quality and reliability of the CDR drive.

Similar Products Used:
Sony, Philips, Yamaha CDR's

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Price Paid:  $800.00 from Leo's Pro Audio

Summary:
This is a dual-deck pro-audio style CD recorder with the recording deck on the left side. It has rack mount holes and a wide-format rack-style front, but no rack handles installed.

The main differences between this deck and a standard consumer CD-recorder deck are:

1. SCMS defeatable function. Selectable levels of security. This feature ALONE would justify the price difference from a $300 consumer player;

2. Rear panel connects include the usual coax, toslink, and unbalanced stereo ins and outs for both decks... this deck also has balanced XLR inputs, but strangely, no XLR outputs. Rear connectivity is almost exception except for this fact.

3. Kindy klugey, big, clunky and primitive remote. Obviously OEM, as coincidentally, this remote operates another Onkyo CDR deck that I owned, as well as the Onkyo's remote fully controlling this one.

4. Drive drawers are somewhat flimsy-feeling for a supposed "pro" deck. These drive drawers and probably the mechanism and many other parts are OEM parts for consumer decks. Makes sense, and one can't complain for the price.

5. Yes, there is a noisy fan that goes on during recording. I actually consider that a blessing, as this unit is clearly designed for heavy use. That fan keeps internal temps down, and everybody knows that nothing deteriorates parts faster than excessive heat.

6. Relative ease-of-use. The front controls are a bit small (small buttons, very small jog dial), but the menus are simple and the operation buttons large, clearly marked, and color coded. This is not a sumptuous machine, but more of a purposeful workhorse. It looks like it would be more at home in a studio or a rack full of equipment than perched atop a home stereo system.

Overall, this is a very good product, and great for the price. The sound is good, though I might just get better CD playback out of my Sony ES SACD changer. For most copy purposes, it's easier and much faster to burn copies on my PC (especially if it means selecting specific tracks). However, and the final major selling point of this deck might just be this: according to my friend who also bought one at my recommendation, this deck supposedly will record from the new copy-protected CDs !! If that's true, then that makes this deck that much more of a great product.

Strengths:
simple control layout, industrial no-nonsense design, rear panel connectivity, SCMS controls, possible copy-protection override, cooling fan during recording process hints at robust operating lifetime.

Weaknesses:
klugey, primitive, large remote, flimsy drawer trays, lack of XLR outputs, somewhat noisy recording fan

Similar Products Used:
various Sony CD and SACD players, Marantz CDR dual deck

Price Paid:  $598.00 from Electronicscity.com

Summary:
This is an excellent machine for recording from CD or analogue. Sound reproduction was better than from my Rega Planet in many ways. But there are a couple of blemishes alluded to by other reviewers. This applies to recording from analogue vinyl.
1. There is no record button on the remote though there is a pause recording button. This means you have to go back to the machine to continue recording which is a hassle if selecting vinyl tracks or playing new sides.
2. Record levels do not show up as red/blue bar lines as per the instruction manual. I would leave as factory set to.
3. "Make CD" should be the default setting for most people making CD copies as this initialises the disc as well.
4. Auto-track needs to be turned "off" when recording from vinyl if you want to add tracks to reflect source tracks on vinyl. Otherwise you could simply use the tracks on the CD to reflect "whole vinyl side" content which saves you the task of pressing "track increment" on the remote.

Strengths:
Does what it says it does and sounds comparable to same cost CDP units.

Weaknesses:
1. Manual is not clear

Similar Products Used:
None.

Price Paid:  $589.00 from DJtronics

Summary:
equals the sound of a cd player in its price range, makes great copies, the only difference between the original and the copy is in the high freqencies and only slightly discernable even on a friends' $50,000 Can. Jadis- Sonus Faber system. I can hear a slight differnce only when doing A-B comparisons, smooth Philips transports, ideal for future hookup to a quality DA converter, these seem to be coming down in price.
The unit has a fan that's only on when recording which makes for unpleasant listening at low levels while recording.
I have only recorded entire CD's on the "Disc at once" mode, finalizing is automatic and you can record one CD when you're not home. You can use regular CDR's, you don't need CDR's Music. Try using a brand of CD's before you buy a lot, I found the TDK's that you buy cheaply, in a round cylinder to sound not as good as other CDR's I used and the recorder refused to record quite a few
Sony CD's. I think the Manufacturer's recommended brand of CD's is determined more by business connections than by the quality and reliability of particular CDR's. I use Maxell
CD-R pro 700 MB, they initialize quickly, have never failed me and sound as good as any CDR that I have used.

Strengths:
Nice CD player with a smoother presentation than some.
Makes nice copies. Seems to be very well built.

Weaknesses:
No display dim/off features,
the blinking lights are annoying

Similar Products Used:
Rega Planet, a variety of older Arcam models