110 Disk Capacity, DTS, Fast Disk Changes, Co$t, doesn't skip on my KKSF compilation CD #4, track 8.

Sounds good, not great, but for

Not much to add that others haven’t said.

I first picked it up in an open box sale at Best Buys. Someone had taken it apart and there was a screw missing and it skipped on my KKSF CD, that only my DVD player would play w/o it skipping. So I took it back and bought a new one from Brandsmall, for less than the open box at Best Buys.

This one is great and it doesn't skip on my KKSF "test" CD. It is rather cheaply made, so I'd stay away from an open box buy. It probably didn't work for them, so try another one. I think that most electronics is so inexpensive these days, that there's minimal QA testing, if any done at the factory. If it works, it's probably ok for awhile. But if it doesn't work out of the box, go get another one.

Enough said, I like it and recommend it as a good inexpensive "mega" player.

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Teac 5 CD Changer

Ease of use

Somewhat cumbersome when you have a huge CD collection and don't remember whether the disc you want to listen to is in the changer or on a rack somewhere. Also, a major caveat (which might seem obvious) is DO NOT TILT the unit when moving it around. For several years, my player sat happily on a shelf and then it was time to move. Someone else picked it up, tilted it back and all the CD's fell into the back of the unit! The fix is easy, but time consuming...had to unscrew the case and then refile the pile of CDs I found in the back.

Although the unit is all that it's advertised to be, I would advise any potential mega-CD player buyers to analyze their listening patterns as well as the size of their collections to see if this is the right type of player to buy. Since I like to DJ and play all sorts of stuff in the course of an evening and since I have a large collection of CDs, I find myself using the "single disc" slot most of the time, thus defeating the purpose of owning a mega-changer. Still, at less than $150 (I paid twice that several years ago), it would be a great buy for someone with a limited collection.

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None

size - smaller than the other 100 disc players - fit better in cabinet

darn near everything else about it!

I originally bought this unit partially based on the reviews here. I kept it a total of two days. It is not only the noisiest changer I have ever seen (heard ?), but the sound quality is terrible. Even using the digital output, it sounded like listening to music through a tin can! I returned this hunk of junk and bought a Pioneer PD-F958. The pioneer's remote is the only let-down. The lettering for its buttons is very (and I do mean VERY) small, but what a difference in sound quality. The pioneer is larger, but it changes discs quickly enough, and more importantly, quietly enough.

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pioneer, philips

GREAT MEGA CD CHANGER

NONE SO FAR

I purchase this baby about three to foru months ago. I wanted a mega changer to store and play my cd's when I wanted to play them and not have to go through changes with the cd boxes. Excellent sound and fawless changes of cd's. I have name all of my cd's in the unit. Execellent buy.

Inexpensive, fast, DTS

rather difficult to input cd text info manually

Overall very happy. Take note that I wasn't impressed with the analog output to reciever, but as soon I finally purchased the optical digital cable the sound was much better. It helped provide a much more dynamic sound.

Easy to load CD's. Quick to get running. Sound is sweet and crisp.

Not reliable. Two defective units in a row. Makes a lot of noise when scanning for disks and seems to want to scan for all of them every time you play a disc. I'm not impressed.

I received this as a birthday gift ($289 CDN - not cheap) and when I finally got it installed, it was skipping quickly and haphasardly through all the tracks on the first CD I tried to play (Ray Charles - Anthology) as if it was in fast forward mode (using the "single" slot). Talk about dissapointment! I tried putting it into one of the other slots and after a bit of button pressing was able to get it to play properly. Then I tried turning it off and on (far before this point I had decided to return it) and the defect re-surfaced. I returned to the store and replaced it with the same model. This time, it played properly but, from time to time, when skipping through tracks to get to a further track, it would start from an arbitrary point (say 5 or 10 seconds into the song). Needless to say I am turned off of this product and will probably avoid Technics products from here on in. Their quality control has got to be quite poor for me to have received two units that can't manage playing logic as well as my 11 year old Hitachi single CD player.

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None.

price, easy cd access

tracking, design

I bought the changer as a toy for the computer. It's literally used for when I'm in game so I don't have to listen to the same CD all day :) However the setup is still very nice. I had the Technics going to the optical in on the Live! 5.1 Platinum, then all signal leave coax digital out to an Adcom GDA-700, then balanced from there on to an Adcom GFP-750, Adcom GFA-5802 and finally PSB Stratus Gold speakers. Not bad for the computer :)

With the application out of the way, back to the review. Since it was to be a toy I didn't want to spend more than I had to. The Technics was an obvious choice given the reviews here. 110+1 CD playback, access to all of them, quick disc changes all promises that look good on paper. The problem was the execution, 110 turned out to be a comprimise of mega changer and single since you'd still be without some CD, strike one. Though you can see all of them right up front removal is much harder using that stick up front, the Sony by comparison can be simply grabbed by even the biggest of fingers, strike two. The biggest problem is the quick access, yes it is quicker than the others, not noticably but quicker none the less. The problem lies in how it's achieved, the actual player is suspended on a track pulled back and forth much like blinds. Like blinds the player sways for a while which may be the cause of the greatest drawback of this player, it has problems tracking some original CDs! I don't mind when a player can't play CDR/CDRW but originals? During my week with the original boxed model and it's exchange boxed model both exhibited the same problem. I never got the all my CDs but these ones had problems, Holly Cole:Temptations, Dave Matthews:Before These Crowded Streets, Suicidal Tendencies:Still Cyco After All These Years. The Sony by comparison hasn't had a single tracking error with it's fixed drive. The tracking problem isn't easily overlooked since hands free operation is what a mega changer is all about, play and forget, not play and return every so often to reload a CD or skip a track... Survey says 4 for value since the price is right, but 3 for overall since basic features like playback are lacking.

Regis Poirier

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Sony CDP-CX335

Mechanical reliability; simple, elegant design; ease of use of basic functions; CD Text support; CD-R support; smaller than average case; speed of changing discs.

No shuffle memory; single play could be more convenient.

This is a followup to my original review from a year ago. The unit is in constant use, mostly in shuffle mode, and has performed flawlessly. My only real complaint is that it doesn't remember what tracks it's played in shuffle mode, so it occasionally repeats them, and that it seems to have a "preference" for certain slots and tracks in random mode. But this is an impression; I haven't done a statistical analysis.

The player sounds as good as any other mass-market consumer CD player. The mechanical noise others have complained of seems to me to be no worse than other mega-changers, and better than some.

The unit is certainly functional as a single-disc player, but still more cumbersome than a tray-loader.

I've been very happy with this unit. If I had it to do over, I would, unhesitatingly.

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Pioneer magazine changers (2 of them)

Price-I paid $149 + $10 shipping from
Brandsmall--What a deal as Best Buys
etc was $199 + tax

Noisy and I haven't attempted to do
disc title.

I bought this so that I could store my
cd's and not too have to get up all
the time. I'm not dissappointed!! It
does everything that I want it to do
and then some. I've only loaded about
60 cd's so far. It's very easy to load
and comes with a liner notes organizer
so that you can tell what is playing.

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Replaced a piece of junk--H/K FL 8300

Speed, sound via digital out

Text entry, text reading

This is my first CD changer. I have been disappointed to find that this unit's LCD display defaults to the "time" reading during random play, instead of staying "assigned" to either album title or artist.

No question: I should have known this before I bought.

In fact, the manual itself says that entered data/CD text will at least "flash" as the CD plays. But it doesn't work in random.

You can play a maximum of 250 songs in random. Each time you get a new song, you must press the text mode button to get the artist, press again to get the album. And again to get the individual songs on CD-Text products.

And while I obviously didn't get this beforehand--and I have no idea whether other manufacturers' changers can handle this--I still don't get it afterward. It makes no sense to me.

I called Technics, and after two days, their "lab" confirmed the procedure above to see the CD Text/input in random, and random's automatic default to time. Frankly, I'm not so sure they even understood why it was a problem or my question. Part of me still believes in a Roswellian kind of way that there is something wrong with my unit. ;-)

And with all that: I really like this unit. I compared the Pioneer and Sony megas in store and this one, as indicated below more or less, operates quieter and faster. And the sound via the optical hook up is much better than I ever would have expected. The keypad input is not a big deal, and the operation pluses more than make up for the lack of a keyboard input and even my issue with the text display.

Factor in the price--J&R is now advertising the thing at $129.99--and you've got a great value. Think about how much you've spent on elaborate Walkmen. My caution is to know your collection well, so you won't have to press buttons. :-)

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