How CD players lost their cool & why the Technics SL-P1200 didn’t.

[@davidchew]

I worked as a DJ in a club when this model was released and I the opportunity to use it for a while. It was a godsend, as it could zoom in down to a cue point on any song in the CD, just by typing in the track, time code, and frame number on the numeric keypad. The reason for the size and heft of this model is due to the fact that Technics was trying to make it easy (an obviously attract) for discos and clubs to replace their de facto turntables (the ubiquitous Technics SL-1200 - hence the same model number for this CD player with an extra P) by making it exactly the same dimensions. However, DJs panned it because the pitch control was reversed when compared to the SL-1200 turntable (push up to slow down and push down to speed up). But, as you pointed out, the speed at which it reads, and gets itself ready was to make it convenient for DJs. The feet of this model are exactly the same as the ones on the SL-1200, being vibration absorbing. I've been following you for years and years now, but have never been compelled to write anything until I saw this video. Your videos are truly wonderful, and my Saturday evenings (I'm in Malaysia - GMT +8) are always a treat when a new video drops! Cheers!

[@zlatanzakic]

Unfortunately, Technics simply had no luck with DJ CD players on the market. First SL-P1200, followed by SL-DZ1200. Not even making it look and appear like a DJ turntable helped. Pioneer took over just like that.

[@cjc363636]

I can't believe it! Techmoan did a piece on the SL-P1200! I used 2 of these in 1987/88 at a North Carolina FM station when I was 21 years old (overnight DJ at 'elevator' music station). Those decks were heavy as trucks and looked like they came from the future, and the first player I saw that had auto cue and pitch control on a CD player. Thanks for the memories! EDIT: I love the metal buttons, too! It does look like some sci-fi/Federation/Empire console standing by to fire the photon lasers or quad beams or whatever.

[@horseshoe_nc]

Hello neighbor, I'm from NC as well.

[@moaningpheromones]

who were you? darth fader?

[@jessihawkins9116]

if you say so 😐

[@ucitymetalhead]

Looks like something they would be using to fire the death star.

[@motodevcam]

Yes, back when I was on radio those functions were essential. We had later technics drawer loaders but they had all the same features. One handy function was the "peak search" which very quickly scanned the disc then cued it up at the highest volume on the track so you could PFL the peaks and set the channel output accordingly. This was important because of the limiters at the transmitter site that would maintain an output volume. If the peak was too high the limiter would pull the gain right down but then as soon as a queter bit followed it would then be too quite and take a second to go back up. Setting the levels correctly stopped this from happening. Whenever the engineer was in the building he could tell instantly if the levels were too high and would often run down to the studio, poke his head around the door and just say "LEVELS!" With a raised disapproving eye brow!!

[@goeland4585]

I had a joke a ready that started with "That's another level of..." but I can't seem to complete it. 🤔

[@kona702]

@@MacPhantom same! I usually set my levels first with a couple songs, then do the peak search to make sure that it doesn't go too high at that particular passage.. also another cool feature on my old Sony deck is that I can program the tracks for side A and B, and it shows me the time used up. Then all I have to do is push play and then at the end flip the tape and push play again for side B. Great features that have all but disappeared from CD players after the 90s.

[@Charlesb88]

@@goeland4585 Don’t worry, audio jokes can be bought cheaply in volume so if you can’t remember the end too that joke I’ll sell you another one that sounds just as funny. By a joke from me and you’ll never be in treble. I’ll have you reeling with laughter. Just be sure to adjust the punch line level appropriately. I never bass my jokes on lowbrow humor so you’ll always be the grooviest joke teller around when you tell the old joke “why did the chicken auto reverse? To get to the other side”. Don’t worry that was the vinyl joke I will be giving away for free just for the record. 😂🤣

[@nickcpv]

Couldn’t your engineer use some soft compressor (w/ gain) to solve that problem automatically?

[@marcusdamberger]

@@nickcpv They probably had five different pieces of equipment on the output chain sweetening the audio and level limiting etc. I bet all analog based. The level limiter was probably aggressively hard limited if any peak audio level went over, and would duck way down.. I remember a station we visited when I was taking one of the DJ classes at our collage, half a rack of 1RU (rack unit) pieces of gear all with flashing LED lights and meters depending on what that gear was accomplishing. It was impressive to look at. However, just a few years later our collage station got an Orban Otimod with DPS control for all the audio processing that only took up one rack unit of space and sounded as good and better than that half a rack of gear the other Top 40 (number one in market) station was doing. Plus none of the artifacts like audio limiting dropping everything by 10dB as soon as it detects high levels. You could crank up the sliders on the audio console and bury the meters, and it still sounded fine over the air. It was really amazing and failproof for those students not paying attention to levels.

[@DenonDJUSA]

Matt, great vid thank you! As I was a 23-year employee of DENON, you may not have known that their 1983 "DN-3000F" model was the first professional CD player to market. US Retail Price: $8,500.00 Features like, Auto Cue, Cue to Music, 1/75 Frame Search, Pitch, Fader Start, Pro Outputs and so much more were all developed by DENON. The SL-P1200 is based off the DN-3000F and nice job they did.

[@efraim.]

damn so expensive!

[@mikkelbreiler8916]

Bro, that Denon DN-3000F is seriously rare.

[@MIK33EY]

I also remember when CD’s launched - I was a young teenager at the time in Australia. My Dad came home with a Teac all in one system with dual cassette decks, with a basic CD player below (also had a radio & turntable) Thing you need to know is that Australian Teac is like Goodmans, in other words the polar opposite of Teac in the UK. (It was so basic you could only advance forward or back by the whole track, not seek mid track it didn’t remember it’s last position if you turned it off and there was no play time displayed only track numbers) Anyhoo, for several years after buying the system the only CD’s that we’re bought had to have on their label that they were either a ADD or DDD recording and if it wasn’t listed then it wasn’t purchased. Oh, and I was banned from using it, so even if I bought my own CD’s I wasn’t allowed to play them, only the “special” CD’s were played. This was more than infuriating to a kid who had discovered the joys of music and was consuming as much of it as possible, discovering 60’s as well as the current charts of the mid eighties at the time. All ended well when I bought my own Sony player almost a year later having saved like crazy from my paper round. Dad wasn’t jealous in the slightest 🤢🤢😂😇

[@drozcompany4132]

ADD discs were rare. I only have one or two in my collection. Most were AAD or DDD. First all-digital recording I bought was Brothers in Arms in like 1985 or 6. It was amazing compared to the AAD discs in there was no hiss at all.

[@MIK33EY]

@@drozcompany4132 Dad had/bought a fair number of classical CD’s (more than 10 less than 20) that were ADD, especially Philips Mastered ones that I seem to remember. He too had Brothers in Arms once he realised what Dire Straits was all about and that it was DDD - I think he thought Dire Straits was “young people’s” music and thus initially was disinterested.

[@jonrichards333]

Goodmans, if there was irony in a brand name, that was it

[@zeniktorres4320]

@@drozcompany4132 Me too 😄 I bought Brothers in Arms because it was DDD, my first DDD 😄

[@GadgetAddict]

Until you open the tray, the disc is both in there, and.not in there.

[@3rdalbum]

Ahh. Schrödinger's Disc.

[@joeblow5214]

@@3rdalbum Beat me to it lol.

[@inshadowz]

I disc, therefore I am.

[@mhoppy6639]

@@3rdalbum ahhh. Yes. But Heisenberg might make you less certain of your knowledge of said disc’s precise location! Is it spinning or not spinning.

[@john2264]

In oneness there is no disc or player or anyone to know that, it's just what's unfolding.

[@mikewifak]

This is Grade A certified pure uncut techmoan. One of your best in my opinion, Matt. The only thing that could make it better is some belts to replace.

[@RandallHayter]

And puppets. Don’t forget the puppets.

[@clutchkman]

I wondered if the laser might need replacement.

[@hankjonkman1893]

Oh look. The laser belt has disintigrated.

[@clutchkman]

@@hankjonkman1893 lol, I don’t know if it correlates but, on older cd based game consoles, the laser lens, or mechanism sometimes needs replacing, belts as well.

[@abhijitmahajan2007]

@@hankjonkman1893 no... It has "perished" 😅

[@ZGryphon]

In addition to its cool quirkiness and unusual capabilities, I find something very appealing about the SL-P1200's user interface. It looks and sounds very tactile, in a way that these things usually weren't by that time. The number pad buttons, in particular, sound like they must be _intensely_ satisfying to press. Also, this brings back two early-CD memories: 1) My first CD deck was one of the boring black drawer models (if memory serves, it was a Garrard), but a short while into its life, it developed a weird fault: it wouldn't work with the top shell of the cabinet installed. We found this out when it stopped working and my father took the top off to investigate, at which point it worked fine until he put it back together. To solve this problem, he built a replacement top shell out of plexiglas, making it possibly the only drawer-loader you _could_ see the disc inside. 2) A friend in college had a multi-disc changer back when that was still gee-whiz moon-rocket tech, but it had the weirdest shuffle function I've ever seen. It appeared to be absolutely, truly, 100% random. It didn't check off played tracks or prevent itself from playing two adjacent tracks in a row; it just chose a random track from the pool of all that were loaded every time. I think it did force a disc change each time, but if it only had one CD in it, it would occasionally get into streaks where its RNG just kept rolling the same track number over and over.

[@JFHeroux]

@ Techmoan As a DJ in the late 80's and early 90's, I worked with those CD decks a lot. They were the best for our needs. One important thing to note is that the weight of the machine would help prevent skips, since dance floor vibrations and bumps on the equipment would make a CD skip. I remember we didn't need to install those on a rubber band suspension like the SL-1200 record players, so either there was a small buffer in the SLP-1200 or there was a physical skip prevention mechanism. Of course, the pitch control slider was the most important feature for us as it made it possible to mix (beat-to-beat) dance music tracks. Also, I remember how fine the search function was. This was very important for us to cue the track at the exact beat where we wanted it to start for the beat-to-beat mix to work. Along with its SL-1200 cousin, the SLP-1200 is a legend of that bygone era when DJs actually had to work to earn their pay. Nowadays, the new generation simply let the computer mix tracks together, replacing the art of mixing with computerized precision.

[@ruikazane5123]

Felt that last part...to be honest they should not be called DJs anymore. Or that's where the term EDM comes in because it's all electronic and done with a computer No offense to the new age peops but that's the truth...it became pointless to be a DJ when there are a lot of people that can mix those tracks even on their phones and get paid for that. All I can do is remember and know that there were real DJs that play with discs and even experience trying my luck at it

[@JFHeroux]

@@ruikazane5123 Your comment made me realize that the DJ contest I won in 1991 would have absolutely no value in this world. After all, a lot of the score was for how good your technique was. Without remembering the full details, I guess we were scored on style and the ambiance we created, but at the time, the way you technically executed your set counted for a lot. Also, there was no better feeling that pulling off the perfect mix in a packed club. Only when you messed-up did the crowd notice your work, and that was alright by me. :)

[@ruikazane5123]

@@JFHeroux Some fellows remember there was scores on the moves too. Like being in sync with the mix you are doing and even tricks like flipping those discs around like the Globetrotters and serving the people like a pro bartender... Of course...nothing beats the feel of actually getting it through without mistakes, much harder to me being assigned to the sound reinforcement stuff back then. High risk and potentially higher reward!

[@asanisi]

Yeah, apparently Technics had a bit of a streak with the products named ‘1200’. Ishkur wrote in his magnificent music guide that he's seen those vinyl decks drop from heights or from moving cars and work fine afterwards. Rave workhorses, they were.

[@Max16032]

The cueing-by-frame system was actually the backbone of DJ mixing when using CD players. The Pioneer CDJ-500 was a very popular early DJ deck that not only featured a jogwheel and pitch control, but also offered seamless looping via the now-standard in-out yellow buttons. DJs were obviously skeptical about CDs at first compared to vinyl, but as soon as the 2000s kicked in and the CDJ-1000 deck arrived, the CD took over.

[@jtmichaelson]

Wow! That is a beautiful machine. The radio station I worked for in the 90s had all of the same features but was a rack unit. But the tabletop model is just gorgeous.

[@damagedgears]

I was going to say that this would have been a common-ish sight in a radio station with extremely fast TOC read, queueing it to the right time stamp, and the eventual addition of XLR out. IIRC, Technics/Teac still makes a variation of this machine in a single rack unit and iPod/MP3 integration. Not as nifty as this guy tho.

[@guruoo]

@@JamesHalfHorse I'd love to see one of those reviewed.

[@TorontoJon]

1:20 YES! I've always loved the kinetics (or animated quality) of physical media moving and progressing on their specific devices (records, reel-to-reel, compact cassette, etc.) and that was most often missing when it came to CD's and certainly laserdiscs, DVD's, and Blu-rays.

[@revidual]

Early CD players may have been well built, and expensive, but the internal DAC were only 4 times over sampling and resulted in a harsh sound which led audiophiles to write off the technology. This issue was only resolved with the arrival of Bitstream or 1 Bit players. My first was the £900 Meridian 206B, with its glass fronted turntable loading drawer.

[@daveme3582]

True. There were a handful of outliers who managed to make it sound decent tho. Then you have the fans of NOS dacs. I own a couple and find the sound quite pleasing. Also own a Prism Lyra 1 which is a totally different beast. And tube buffered dacs. So many ways of getting unique pleasing sound. IMO one of the best bang for the $ are the MOTU M series A/D D/A boxes. Got a used M4 for under $200. Real shame no one makes an affordable belt driven CD transport these days. Just not enough of us hold outs to justify the effort it seems.

[@dougodyssey50]

True. Without digital output connections, they are what they are. An external DAC solves all the audio issues. I remember how awful my Dad's Denon sounded and being even more disappointed that he couldn't connect a DAC because Denon hadn't bothered with any kind of digital output.

[@ZReviews]

I don't even own many CD's anymore and yet I sitll would love one of these to use. Every feature just seems so fast, useful and important.

[@brantisonfire]

The feature that adds three seconds between each track would be useful for making copies to tape, especially if you’re playing those tapes back in a deck that can do random track search. Those systems need a few seconds of silence between tracks to determine the end of one song and start of another.

[@bloqk16]

Pitch control was an aspect for CD players I always sought out, as when playing popular songs from CDs of 1960s, I want the tempo of the songs to be the same as they sounded on the US Top 40 radio formats of that era; as they invariably slightly sped up the vinyl record turntables when playing the songs. In addition, the first record turntable I got with my component stereo system in 1975, I discovered later-on that the turntable ran slightly fast when measured with a strobe light/'disc; so my ears got accustomed to that tempo sound. When I got my first CD player in the late 1980s; which did not have pitch control, those 1960s songs by the Rolling Stones sounded sluggish in tempo because then were being played at the true playback speed.

[@darrell20741]

I wonder if my Bee Gees records played too fast. I tried real hard to keep up with their voices, the pitch was just too high, but I was stayin alive.

[@Prizm44]

Were they speeding up the tracks intentionally? I thought that was a more modern underhanded tactic to fit more songs in, or fit in more advertisements. Once or twice I’ve heard a song on the radio that has definitely been pitch shifted. I also seem to remember reading something about some record companies intentionally slowing down the track before giving a copy to the radio station to compensate for speed up.

[@rogerb5615]

@@Prizm44 Certain radio stations time-compress (read: speed up) talk shows in realtime by recording the audio stream then starting playback 60 seconds later (after two commercials) and airing the compressed recording. At the end of the segment, the compressed recording ends at the same time as the actual stream. Atlanta GA's WSB was notorious for this, using it to sell more ad spots on a very popular afternoon talk show.

[@bloqk16]

@@Prizm44 There are urban legends from the 1960s/70s about (US) Contemporary Hit radio stations (aka Top 40) being subtle with speeding up record playback. But, there are also anecdotal accounts of (US) radio stations in the 1980s that sped up songs. When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1970s, I recall radio station KLIV (1590 AM, San Jose) hearing contemporary songs played on that station where the 45 rpm discs were sped up to around 3 percent or more; the tempo of the songs were noticeably faster than what was heard on KFRC and KYA of that era.

[@Frankonero12]

@@darrell20741 I laughed at this in a Bee Gees high pitched voice "Ha Ha Ha Ha (staying aliiiiiive)"

[@DjadamGee]

That Rakim album (CD) was AMAZING!!!!

[@wizdude]

It’s “The 18th Letter - The Book of Life” and he’s playing cd #2. An excellent choice of music :-)

[@DjadamGee]

@@wizdude Yes and couldn't agree more!

[@sgtcreasegrease]

@@wizdude 18th Letter also has some joints on it too! Wish Ra would do a whole album with Premier...

[@bryanb30]

Don’t get one started! That was when rap or hip hop was actually music 🎶, creative and uncorrupted.

[@TheDistrict644]

@@wizdude The 18th Letter? I thought that was the Paid in Full cd. The Paid in Full cd was the amazing cd. The Paid in Full Platinum cd was a double cd and the one to get as well. The follow the leader album was the 2nd album and was great as well as their third album, Let the rhythm hit em. Probably the one that put them out there, do to more tracks on it. I found the 18th letter cd in a thrift store years ago. I only recalled a few tracks on it I liked and if I'm not mistaken, that was his last cd solo. Eric B and Rakim did all album's together except for when Rakim did the 18th letter .

[@bensonwr]

Used to maintain those players at the BBC World service. I remember the weight. Take a trolly was the advice. The headphone socket and the power switch were the main things to go wrong. But they were built like tanks . All of those buttons meant the first thing the SM (Studio Manager) would do when they came in was to ensure it was in their prefered mode. Can't rely on the previous person to have left it so. Thanks for bringing back memories . Studer A80 Or Revox PR99 next?

[@daveme3582]

Happy owner of an X edition here. The one thing Ive been dealing with, is the open button becoming physically finicky. Feels as if its in need of some lube to keep it from hanging up upon its guide rail. Would love to know if you also encountered this and had any advice for me on how to remedy this? Techs from the hey day of these devices with first hand knowledge are so in need these days. Thanks much.

[@ageary]

Its no coincidence its named after the Technics SL-1200 series of direct-drive turntables originally manufactured from October 1972 until 2010. Built to last and give perfect precise playback. Thank you Technics.

[@drdelewded]

The SL-1200 is still being made.. its at Mk vii now though..

[@bluerizlagirl]

This was a machine with big boots to fill. The SL-1200D had become the weapon of choice for DJs, on the air and in the clubs; and Matsushita knew customers would be expecting as much control over positioning in time with CDs as a fast-starting, fully manual turntable could give with records. Hence the crisp, positive action of the switches, and the resolution of the motion sensor on the search dial with its balance weight carefully designed to mimic the feel of a record on a turntable platter. When you've got a quarter of a million listeners out there or just a few people on the dance floor, you don't want buttons that slop about and leave you wondering whether you pressed them hard enough. You can always tell a precision instrument by the way it _feels_.

[@sparky6086]

This CD player was mainly for dance club DJ's who needed to "cut & scratch" and to sync the rhythm from record to record in order to keep people on the dance floor, like they were able to directly physically do by touching their pair of spinning 12 inch analog records which facilitated an uninterrupted but spur of the moment changing stream of music.

[@bluerizlagirl]

@@sparky6086 They were also used in local radio stations, where it's usual for presenters to operate all the machinery themselves. Obviously in a dance club, you want to maintain an uninterrupted flow of evenly-spaced beats; but even as a humble DJ on medium wave in the back end of nowhere you still want the favourite song of the listener for whom you have just read out a birthday greeting to start dead on time, and you want the final drum beat of the last record of your show to sound exactly one second before the pips as though it were the first of seven. I've done both kinds of DJ work, and they present their own special challenges, but the common thread is precise fingertip control of exactly when the music starts.

[@drdelewded]

@@bluerizlagirl digicarts with extended memory killed that in radio

[@emancaindec9731]

One of my favorite Techmoan episodes! Yes, he has a point, there's really no soul or romanticism when it comes to interacting with a average-looking disk-drawer type of CD player. Gotta admit that CD player looks unique. Kinda looks like a typewriter or cash register of sorts.

[@wal]

I completely agree about seeing the disc's. I reviewed a junky Emerson 3 disc stereo not too long ago and although it's junk, still looks beyond cool with the motorized door and open design. Why do they hide these cool looking discs? Makes no sense!

[@sw6188]

Seeing the disc's what?

[@sw6188]

@@nintendude794 I know. I was making that point without being specific.

[@neondemon5137]

@@Stevie-J Are you lost? Do I need to call your mummy?

[@themaritimegirl]

@@Stevie-J wtf is wrong with you?

[@stylis666]

_" Why do they hide these cool looking discs? Makes no sense!"_ Why were you able to see inside a tape? To see the progress and what's left. On many tapes it was even etched into the plastic. If you see a CD turning, you see a CD turning, it's absolutely useless, so it makes no sense to show it. Here, just for you, to show movement: **flips bird**

[@jonathankleinow2073]

Our first CD player was an SL-P111, as seen at 6:02 at the bottom. My parents won it at some mystery dinner theater thing they went to. It lasted quite a long time and was part of my hi-fi in college up until 2006 or so, when it stopped recognizing discs. It was very basic, but it was simple to operate and did its job well.

[@JoeranKrusch]

The 111 used the same laser as the 1200. and that very same laser probably went bad. The early range is notorious for their lasers going bad. But 20+ years is more than anyone would have dreamed of them lasting, I suppose.

[@EberKlaushartinger]

Maybe it is repairable.

[@IThinkYouLookLarvely]

Similarly, I stopped recognising music from after 2006.

[@SBBUK]

Very cool, interesting to see this functionality on a machine from the 80s, I thought this didn't appear until the pioneer CDJ players in the 90s! You would love the technics sl-dz1200 Mat it's a ridiculous hybrid of a CDJ and an Sl1200 turntable...

[@ryanjofre]

Gotta try it.

[@BIGBIGBIG]

Yeah I was just thinking if you had a pair of these you could probably do some crappy DJing on the haha

[@a.mikasaan]

As an owner of several CDJ500s, I can definitely say that I’d love to see techmoan review one. Hell, if I could I’d probably send him one if I had one to send in proper working order 😅

[@ricog8209]

You caught my attention at "Technics". I've always loved technics. I'm currently using a twenty +year amplifier and it still sounds fab. I absolutely love their multistage noise shaping (MASH) system on their CD players. Everything sounds so clear, almost like a highend cd player. Technics is highly underated.

[@richardwhite2344]

Yes it is!!!! I am a big fan of Technics and I would never buy anything else. Technics is the Science of Sound and the brand did not get the respect it deserved.

[@ruthun]

Content creators, take note. this is the kind of timeless content that we will be watching in 50 years time. Thank you, Techmoan. ALways awesome to see you in the feed. 🙂

[@Bobby_Snoof]

The Technics brand has tried some original things...I really like their devices.

[@russellhltn1396]

Let's not forget the Technics turntable is/was the standard for many radio stations/DJs. Some models come up to speed in 1/3 of a turn. Perfect for a radio DJ.

[@northsurrey]

Good to see this player again. I used the BBC ones extensively when I was a studio manager and Radio One used them before buying Studers. The Studers were better as they remembered the cue points set by the operator/DJ on discs even if they were removed and replaced. Also worth mentioning that the Technics design mirrored the SL1200 turntable (same feet and pitch control layout). By the way the Technics had the ability to access index points using the Index button but I don’t think this was ever used on a commercial CD unless anyone knows different?

[@mikeselectricstuff]

I think indexes were more common on classical music to indicate movements etc.

[@pyndahvickers946]

And Manowar’s "The Triumph of Steell".

[@robsayer8028]

I did notice that the pitch slider is reversed compared to the SL1200 though. On this CD player you push the pitch control away for an increase in speed and pull towards you for a decrease, whereas on the SL1200 it's the opposite.

[@DJNeiloSF]

IIRC the Studer/Revox machines also had that index function which was good to have for playing those commercial music beds used on jingles and ads.

[@Leonards-leopard]

Pretty certain there are index points on atom heart mother, though it’s been years since I’ve heard it on cd

[@Luscious3174]

Technics really did make some seriously good audiophile gear back in the 80's - their DBX tape decks, amplifiers and equalizers were up there with the best, not even mentioning the legendary SL-P1200 DD turntable. FWIW: I've got a JVC CD player with a motorized glass top that also shows the disc spinning in all it's glory (FS-SD550). Bought it brand new when they were still being sold. You can in fact see one being used in the Will Smith movie I Robot. Close to 20 years old I'm guessing, runs perfect and plays CD-R's like a champ too. It's a great little machine.

[@richardisaacs567]

I never realised how much this would have in common with the CDJs by Pioneer from the early 2000s, nice to se how this technology progressed. Reckon this must have been used in clubs and for mix cds early on.

[@jazzlover10000]

The B&O CD players hit the swap meets for like $10 each a few years ago. Those were also pretty nice see-through units.

[@jasperklm]

So @teachmoan get an B&O

[@nigelparker5886]

torchwood They we’re fairly low rated from an audiophile point of view! Never made it into serious hi-fi reviews anywhere either! Just expensive Scandi pretence! Sorry to say! Cheers

[@mr_gerber]

@@nigelparker5886 In contrast to the HiFi-market of course, completely lacking expensive pretense.

[@nigelparker5886]

@@mr_gerber Not of course back in their time, when they were nicely made expensive mid-fi at best! Quad for instance, made superb audiophile equipment that wasn’t cheap, but were light years ahead of B&O pretentious gear! B&O was for the trendy Scandinavia furnishing crowd only! Sorry, but it was the case! Cheers

[@UndoomedOne]

You should check out the Bang & Olufsen Beosound 9000.Probably the most beautiful CD player ever made.

[@radarmusen]

100% agree, B&O made several CD players with “windows” , I guess what they was thinking about the user has to see the cd. The 9000 even stop the cd in the right position.

[@RafaelHabegger]

it's not

[@alanguile8945]

@@RafaelHabegger TIS

[@force311999]

@@Shibathedog they still sell them but they are all junk and dont last

[@RafaelHabegger]

@@alanguile8945 meh. Boomer design lacking the essentials imho. Tell somebody who doesn't know the device to open the glasscover and see what happens.

[@MrTonglong]

I used to have one of these! I purchased a broken unit for $20 from a junk store, managed to fix it, then sold it off for about $300. This was about 5 years ago. I have some regret getting rid of it, but it was what started the hobby of fixing electronics for me. Thanks for reminding me of this beast :)

[@smacksalad]

You hit on a point, keeping the media out of sight. I didnt care about this at the time, at all. But now, there is something I like about seeing the media, or maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better about being about to spend an inordinate amount on a TEAC reel to reel four track :)

[@thepirategamerboy12]

@@HankPanky Pretty much.

[@drfsupercenter]

Do you rip open your VCRs to watch old movies? Hiding the media wasn't uncommon at all, in fact almost every type of player did this besides some of the audio formats. CD was based on laserdisc and I don't know of any laserdisc players that let you see the disc. It's spinning so fast that you wouldn't be seeing much of anything, anyway.

[@Filtersloth]

I think there is no doubt that this channel is the best thing that ever happened to KZbin. Just consistently great.

[@williampotter2098]

Do you really have that little to do with your time? Do you really have to watch someone explain how the departure of CDs as a playback media is because people like to see things turning? This video was asinine.

[@thehussar5604]

@@williampotter2098 Says the guy commenting on a comment of a video he didn't even like.

[@MikaelTh]

I had the front loaded SL-777 for 30 years, it had many of the same features, incl. the jog-wheel, which was very convenient for me transcribing music: you could make it play a single chord in the music. It was also the first CD player with a 1-bit D/A converter and praised as a milestone as that. As a reminiscent of a whole visible disc, it had a small window to a 45 degree mirror to the lit spinning disc. I bought the last available laser and when that finally got dim at last the party was over. Very sad, I really loved it. 😥

[@remoapeter]

I have the 770, only recently the drawer refused to open - probably needs a new belt for its motor. How many hours of use does it take for a laser to go dim?

[@TH3mrBROWN]

Reminded me of the portable CD player I had as a kid in the early 2000s, it had a tiny window through which I loved seeing the disc spin. Just something nice about seeing physical movement that results it music.

[@drfsupercenter]

Most portable CD players had that. I even modified one of mine, to test the anti-skip feature, so I could open the lid while it was playing and stop the disc from spinning, and count how long until the audio stopped. Those 60-second buffers really worked!

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

@@drfsupercenter if you bypassed the lid sensor and had antiskip on, you could even switch the disk whilst playing. completely useless party trick

[@drfsupercenter]

@@Knaeckebrotsaege I never thought to try that! Would it actually start playing the same position on the new disc?

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

​@@drfsupercenter if it has a track at the same position it would just continue playing, possibly with a bit of data garbage/earrape in between. At least that's what my Sony D-E301 did

[@cruisingfanatic]

Beautiful piece of equipment... I remember when the Technics dealer at the time phoned and said it has arrived, I couldn't wait, so excited, I had to carry this beast through town and on then on the bus to home but it was worth the chronic back pain and bruised knuckles at the time. Then I worked at a local radio station in Dunstable Technical Operator and we had the ASC versions of which I was a bit jealous off, these were hammed in the studio but survived well. Great video it brought back some amazing memories.

[@lo-firobotboy7112]

The first CD and CD player I ever saw was at a high school party circa 1988 when a fellow band-mate was DJ-ing using a Sony D-88 with the disc exposed. Pretty cool little machine. He had a flashlight aimed at the exposed section of the disk reflecting rainbow patterns on the rest of his gear. High-tech indeed for a basement party in the burbs!

[@zanyzoo6767]

Im pleased to see you mention the cost of CD tech. It was a really expensive format at the time. People also forget that an average CD album at the time was between £14 and £18. If you take the middle price of £16 , today that would approx. be about £50 a throw.

[@leebee6382]

Recently had a chance to listen to vinyl. The clicks and pops reminded me of one reason why I left LP's behind in 1988... My attachment is with the sound, not watching the media being played.

[@pez7031]

Outstanding video! Love that you used “Paid In Full” to demo this player’s features. I could have a lot of fun with that pitch control on just about any of my 9,000 CDs.

[@agatorabroad966]

What version of "Paid in Full" is this? All of the ones I can find on youtube don't have that really good hit at 27 seconds like his CD does!

[@pez7031]

@@agatorabroad966 The album is “Paid In Full” but song name is “I Know You Got Soul”. Techmoan was playing the regular album mix which is a match at 27 seconds in. The album itself is old skool legend!

[@3991justin]

Great video! I recently went on a bit of a CD player quest, and I wanted to share what I learned with all of you. Modern hifi CD players are quite expensive, so you may want to scour the vintage market. I ended up finding a Pioneer disc changer from the '90s for around $30 and it worked, but it was noisy and beaten up due to age. I wondered why there weren't many standalone CD players from the 2000s available, and I finally realized that it's because they were displaced by DVD players. The irony is you can find a boatload of DVD players being liquidated at stores like Goodwill, and some of them are officially labeled as DVD/CD players while costing less than the older CD-only units. Some of them have onboard DACs with impressive oversampling. I inherited one with a 192khz / 24 bit converter. You may even locate a model that supports HDCD, and don't forget that some Blu-ray players support Super Audio discs, if that's what you're into. DVD players almost always can be used as transports if you have your own DAC, or you can just use the RCA outputs without any ill effect, as a lack of television shouldn't affect operation. Design-wise they're a refreshing departure from black boxes as they tend to be thin and silvery, with the basic CD control buttons usually in easy reach on the front of the unit. In short, anyone considering a brand new $400 CD player should really look into the used DVD player market, or just dig out your old one. Panasonic, Pioneer and other companies made some models that sound amazing and were purpose built to be used as CD players, and of course you'd be getting a video player as well so DVD audio and video is never off limits! Techmoan, I think this topic would make a great video. I'd love to learn more about how early DVD players catered to the hifi market as all-in-one machines.

[@everydaychris5597]

I’m so glad you brought this up (as of topics with all your wonderful content)! I have an ‘all in one’ Magnavox from my childhood that I still keep. It has a manual vertical pop-open CD player (loaded almost like a cassette), along with turntable ontop and dual cassette. Aside the digital readout for the radio, the physical formats are wonderful to watch!

[@ph11p3540]

I don't care if CDs are no longer cool. Modern digital formats can crap out and the cloud can turn stormy. So I keep my old CD players and CD collection. Back up for back ups.

[@LowdownBoy]

Found a technics 5 way cd "changer" carousel at a local thrift store. You can change/reload/reorder the discs while still playing a disc. Got a bit more features like the multi disc shuffle, playlist queue, and live pitch adjustment with bypass (the fun one) 😀

[@spikespa5208]

My Technics 5 cd changer still going strong many years on. In a stack, can only be on top. But the cd swap out while playing feature is cool.

[@jessihawkins9116]

this video is about the sl-p1200 CD player, not a cheap consumer grade cd changer 🤨

[@timothystockman7533]

The first CD player which I saw and heard was a Kyocera vertical-load unit, at the Chicago summer CES at McCormick Place. The disc it was playing was one of the first CBS/Sony popular discs: the Bob James / Earl Klugh "One On One" album. It was fascinating to watch the speed of rotation change as it accessed different tracks. This was completely different than LPs and tapes, but not completely foreign to me, because I had a Pioneer VP-1000 Laserdisc player back at home. Both CAV and CLV LD rotated very fast, and it was interesting seeing the comparatively slow rotation of the CD.

[@museum1401]

The base of that thing looks exactly like the SL-1210 turntables - the standard for club DJs and incredibly hefty to help minimise vibrations/skipping. What a beast.

[@ssjaken]

Technics also made DJ CD players. Basically the competitor to the CDJ from pioneer. I'd love to get a set for my collection

[@lolatu4402]

This player was one of (if not the) first club CDJ decks. They were pretty common in NYC DJ booths back in the 90s. I had a few DJ gigs where these machines were in the booth and used them. I preferred turntables, but really enjoyed some of its features, and actually used the cue effect (like in the video "pump up the volume") in sets. It sounded pretty cool with the right samples. "Pump up the volume" is perfect!

[@museum1401]

@@lolatu4402 Nice... I remember there was quite a stigma around CD-based DJ'ing here in the UK during the 90s, at least for club DJs. It was quite snobby, looking back.

[@Mentski]

@@ssjaken Denon were more Pioneers competitor than Technics ever were. They actually beat Technics to making a CD DJ player with a spinning platter, barely anybody speaks about that. I still use a pair of the later DN-SC3900s to this day. Technics pretty much bowed out of the CDDJ market quite early on due to Denon and Pioneer having the market covered, and the SL-DZ1200 never quite working the way it should (in fact, it took a hacker to modify the firmware to make them accurate.)

[@reno5159]

@@Mentski Was thinking of picking up a pair of sc3900s. Have you tried it with DVS nd does it work? The SL-DZ1200 would be sick in a hifi, would look great in the booth but there buggy fuckers haha! I’m happy with my CDJ-1000s for digital playback, but I miss the rotating platter! Like keeping the 1210s clear for real vinyl as well. Bun having to swap over cables mid set to change from digital to analogue😂

[@paranoidgenius9164]

Commodore adopted the top loading see through lid on the Amiga CD32 😊👍 The amount of equipment that gets thrown out all because a belt has perished is astonishing! I've repaired many electronics that have been thrown out by others. Older equipment is built to last, & to know how to service them is a bonus. I just love having some equipment that you can repair yourself over & over throughout the years. I rescued a Sanyo G3003 with 2 VU meters & an orange digital display which is in remarkable condition for its age.

[@TATICMOOR]

A wonderful single disc player and I don't blame you for having one as it does everything one could want. My stereo separates stack is the Aiwa DX-9100M and years later got the sub-woofer too. It came with a single disc player. I bought it new at £1000 round about 35+ years ago. It is still working away, and the only parts replaced was the number of stylus needles and a turntable bent x1. That is until my nephew wrecked the CD player on me. I couldn't find a single replacement player, only a 5-disc interchanger which I hate for all the noise when switching out single discs. The only time I used the multi disc function was with compilation discs to load up the five trays.

[@manjacovus5342]

I don't know why you call it techMOAN: your obvious delight in the products, your massive expertise and superb presentation are totally infectious. I often watch even when I have no special interest in the particular item(s) under review as I rarely fail to learn something new or be entertained in the process. Keep up the fab work. Thanks.

[@StarionX]

I always wanted a front loading player. While I never got one, I did eventually find a gem in a mint Pioneer PD-M6 (The first 6-disc model?) I found in a random thrift for $5 USD. It's a staple of my hi-fi set up. I always wanted one of those 6-disc Pioneer units when I was a kid. There is only one other drawer loading unit that I liked and would love to own someday. The Pioneer P-D70 was gold and silver with a digital meter, almost matching the units they sold sometime around that time. A very beautiful machine.

[@Daniel-79]

Always nice to learn about hi-fi gear that I've never have seen or read about. Thanks for taking the time to procure and demonstrate such items.

[@1974UTuber]

Matt you still manage to surprise me after all these years with something I've never seen before. Having worked as a DJ for many years I had assumed Radio Stations would have used the same type of Twin Deck CD players I used in a rack case system. Im sure some did has they had a separate control panel that would have made life easier for them to que, beat and pitch match 2 CDs at once. The Technics has a really impressive spin up time though

[@reghunt2487]

Nice overview of the SL-P1200. Note that there was a safety concern with CD players having their lasers exposed. The drawer loading addressed that. I worked for some radio stations and recordings studios doing maintenance on the SL-P1200's, and one of the main things was replacing the door switch parts, as they tended to wear down. The switch prevented the player from operating (i.e. turning on the laser) while the door was open.; So of the switch was broken, the player was disabled. So we kept a stock of the switch parts around at all times.

[@gordanpavlovic8224]

This is the fastest I ever got from "What's he on about, it looks like a cashier machine, horrible" to:"OMG now I want one". What a great piece of history you found there!

[@GRSEMETROMALL]

When I was on the radio I had a professional CD player but it was not this. It did have a cue function though. It was the drawer type

[@Vector_Ze]

Working in radio in 1990, we had what I called CD cart machines, after the continuous loop tape cartidges. Each CD was housed in a cartridge to protect it, and it remained in that cartridge for playback in the decks. You can see and hear them in use on one of my videos, but I guess a lot of channels don't like posting of URLs. At that time, we had one single turntable in the control room, which was odd. In the year I worked at that station I never used it. There was nothing available in the control room on vinyl, LOL.

[@Jason-Scott]

Hospital 🏥 Radio 📻

[@DTD110865]

It would not surprise me if one of the local radio stations near where I used to live ruined their copy of "Land of Confusion," by Genesis with one of these. On the other hand, the pitch control would be useful for fixing some of my own more worn out CDs.

[@92WKTU]

@@Vector_Ze yes, DENON cart machines.

[@AdamCalow]

I was involved in university student radio in the early to mid nineties (shout out to B-1000 😁). IIRC, we had commercial front drawer based players with the very useful autocue function, so it wasn’t unique to the professional series. I would have loved to have had use of one of these top notch players though: the fast loading times, jog wheel and build quality look fantastic.

[@pierrebridet]

Great video as always ! I'd never seen a CD player with pitch control. As a guitarist who loves to play along some of my favorite records, this would be an extremely useful feature because sometimes, especially on older records, the instruments aren't tuned to the "standard" 440hz A. For example on Radiohead's The Bends album, all songs are in regular 440hz tuning, except the last (and brillant) song Street Spirit. Growing up and learning guitar, I was never able to play along the record for this reason (at least not without the fuss of having to slightly detune my guitar specifically for this one song). Of course now it's easy to fix with a computer but I find it very exciting to be able to do it directly on device in the living room !

[@VintageTexas59]

Denon made small CD-players with both "scratch" mode and pitch-control, very dependable and sounds great Pierre.

[@rich_edwards79]

A handsome beast indeed. Love the brushed metal keys and Darth Vader styling. I think another reason for the lack of interest in standalone CD decks is that there are now a lot of other items that can play CDs, which people are way more likely to still have in their homes than a full component Hifi setup. Everything from DVD / Blu-ray players to PlayStations, optical drives in older laptops and micro systems (some of which did go back to the top-loading mechanisms with visible disc) can read a CD. My partner plays her old ELO and ABBA discs on a 19" Goodmans kitchen TV with built in DVD drive. No it doesn't sound anywhere near as good as a proper dedicated separates system, but we'd have difficulty fitting one of those into a galley kitchen.

[@stompchomper6411]

These days your best bet is something like a Sony 4k bluray player. We bought one for other reasons and found it has digital coax output, a toslink out, and hdmi audio to boot. Even advertised as able to play the largely snake oil SA-CD format. We hooked it upto our amp and despite my distaste for Sony, it does perform well. Our old dedicated CD player (some TEAC unit my parents bought in the 90's) sounds more or less the same to my ear. (Edit: spell check)

[@cpufrost]

I've had the SL-P1300 since early 2003. Been used in a DJ/live music environment for some time. Very solid machine. Also near impossible to make it skip which is important if its not far from a stack of Bassmaxx Trips with Skooter pounding at 135dB! Thank goodness for earplugs! ;-D

[@winhtin3420]

Never occurred to me that I needed to see the CD spinning and get excited. Interesting thought for sure. I guess it has more to do with space saving and being stackable as you mentioned. Perhaps spinning the CD vertically creates more wobble also. As a side note, Esoteric X-05 has a little window at the top if I recollect.

[@povilasstaniulis9484]

When we switched from cassettes to CDs, I always hated the fact that the discs were hidden. I still have an old CD-ROM drive (with integrated audio CD controls) which I modified to work without the top cover so I could see the disc. I still power it up from time to time to listed to something from my old collection.

[@CheezeCracker]

Whoa. Thx for the flash back! I remember wanting to mod my external burner with a clear top lid.

[@jpaleas]

I remember the excitement looking at all the electronics back in the eighties as a teenager , unfortunately a feeling that’s lost when I look at electronics that are made today..... Thankfully some companies are still making some electronics and speakers that have a vintage look like Yamaha, klipsch , JBL, Warfedale... just to name a few!

[@guruoo]

Deja vu, vintage is back. Now go thank a boomer.

[@euroyen420]

Don't thank a boomer, it will inflate their already fragile, (built by fake media) ego.

[@guruoo]

​@@euroyen420 So, from whom do you think most of this vintage stuff originated? You really should show more respect for your elders, son. ROTFL!

[@euroyen420]

They're from japan..nothing to do with American boomers.

[@shinji5217]

@@guruoo boomers are just yanks. And even then, they are the hippie ones, so it is a matter of age, not intelect anyway, would you believe, people had different groups back then too.

[@oliverlison]

I am always looking forward to watching a new episode of your content. Beautifully researched, filmed and narrated.... what else can be said? Simply said, one of the best channels out there!

[@joefunsmith]

I love all the great features. The model number is clearly an homage to the Technics SL1200 vinyl turntables with the pitch fader used by DJs to beat match their mixes.

[@anthonydandrea2170]

Same feet, too. Noticed that right away.

[@houstonduckman1]

There was a great looking and sounding CD player you didn't mention. It was the Marantz CD-73. It had a front load design WITH a window on top to see the disc spinning!! I always love your videos, very entertaining and informative!

[@davebittner822]

The first-generation CD player I owned was the Magnavox FD1041BK, which had a transparent front window on the CD drawer and a green LED that illuminated the top surface of the spinning CD. Seems the market dominance of Sony quickly put visible disks out of fashion. Thanks for the memories!

[@syrophenikan]

I had its cousin, the SLP-1000. A beautiful piece of gear with everything that has except the pitch control. It’s one of the few pieces of gear I wish I still had. The laser died in mine. R.I.P.

[@tomruffner6283]

Outstanding episode. It is wonderful when you feature ultra-interesting stereo components! Thank you.

[@mikedominico7326]

I really like your videos and being an audio guy always find them interesting. I just stumbled onto this video and have some additional perspective you may find interesting. Firstly, I'm a lifelong career club DJ in New York City and was in the clubs when these SL-P1200s were first introduced. Interestingly they were built to the same dimensions as Technics' SL-1200mkII turntables, which had been the industry standard for quite some time. In big dance clubs the DJ consoles often had special cutouts for the turntables to be suspended on platforms by thick rubber bands to eliminated any vibration and feedback from the clubs' heavy sound systems. The thought of making the SL-P1200's base to the same specifications as the SL-1200mkII was so that clubs interested in switching from vinyl to cd could simply pull out the turntable and drop the cd player in it's place. Unfortunately (or fortunately) clubs were not interested in completely abandoning vinyl and would often have one or two of these cd players off to the side. I always felt Technics never really took the idea of club DJs using cds seriously as for our purposes these players were not great and never followed up with an improvement. Pioneer had their first DJ cd player out, the CDJ-500, and though not as sturdy as Technics', Pioneer's functionality was far superior. For instance, one of the biggest oversights Technics made was that the pitch control on their cd players was opposite from what it was on the turntables, which means all DJs would have to get accustomed to doing the reverse of what they had been doing for years when beat mixing... really stupid mistake. Technics should've jumped on it and owned the market as they had with the turntables but they left the door wide open for Pioneer to come and take it from the beginning, which they still have now close to 30 years later. Anyway, thanks for another informative walk down memory lane.

[@ebreckpo6563]

Used to have several of those. It is a miracle you have a working sample. Ours were in a constant repair rotation. They were indeed build like a tank but extremely temperamental.

[@bobbobson4069]

This was a great documentary by TechMoan! Pure class! TechMoan's videos are a highlight to my week. I appreciate the attention to history and detail. For example, I never knew that the Sony protype actually showed the spinning cd horizontally. Those early models really looked beautiful. Best wishes, Marius from Warsaw.

[@ignorance-on-fire]

I was looking into buying a small stereo system for my home, and I remember going to the electronics store as a child and seeing row upon row of ever so slightly different cd stereo systems, so I was expecting a similar experience. (I was under no illusions that I would get to see the dozens of styles of the early 00s, but I expected four or five at least.) Unfortunately, I was given exactly one opinion, and it wasn’t one I was crazy about, so I went home empty handed. I totally agree with you about most CD players being bland as anything, and this one is quite exciting! I may do some searching on the internet for something along these lines. I’ve been enjoying your videos for a few months and I cannot wait to see more.

[@2011joser]

I remember in the late 80’s to the 90’s Technics being the best home cd players the average consumer could purchase. I owned several with a carousel 5 cd player being my last one. For cd players it was Technics in the home, Sony walkman on the go, and Alpine in the car.

[@handlesarefeckinstupid]

Technics were never the best. They had a look and hype, but they were never the best. The really clever people bought Marantz and other names. Technics lived off the deck name.

[@Clay3613]

@@handlesarefeckinstupid McIntosh, for true audiophiles.

[@thorntona]

Really interesting analysis of this bit of kit. I'm curious though, when CDs first appeared, and then budget CDs followed, consumers were being told that cheaper CDs would deteriorate over time. In particular, I remember reading that the metal 'foil' inside the plastic disc would corrode and that the music quality would dissipate. I have to say I've yet to notice this among my budget collection of discs, but I wonder, after 40 years, if this is a genuine phenomenon?

[@robbja]

Thank you Matt! For this unbridled, uninhibited - loving display of gadget enthusiasm! THIS IS Infotainment - Entertaining and inspiring information! I thoroughly enjoy your enthusiasm and attention to detail! Bloody well done sir! Cheers mate!

[@EdgardoDC]

When I was a kid in the late 90s I used to look at the cassette being played from begging to end, but with the CD it didn't make sense because I couldn't see the progress, I just see it moving. One thing I did notice was that, on the last track, the disc was rotating slower than the start. I always had boomboxes with clear CD covers to play them because all the expensive equipment was reserved for my parents, they knew I'd destroy them 😅 But looking at the media being played is a mesmerizing show that's part of the experience of playing physical media ✨

[@renemunkthalund3581]

Well observed on the rotation speed. CDs store an equal amount of data pr. groove length, and having the first track near the center it needs to spin faster to cover the same groovelength pr. time unit.

[@KristopherNoronha]

@@renemunkthalund3581 the technical name for that is CLV (constant linear velocity) - the other speed standard is CAV (constant angular velocity) that most computer CD drives used.

[@renemunkthalund3581]

@@KristopherNoronha I know. Not sure on the last bit though. CD-roms physically store data the same way as an audio-cds so CAV would mean a higher data read rate for data near the edge. Definitely CAV are floppy drives and, of course, vinyl records.

[@theNWdigital]

Wow never knew that a device like this ever came to market! Congrats to this unit and thanks for presenting. Amazing how fast it reads the TOC. Not an optic-only phony but a technically sophisticated machine! (Ok, I think Technics did have something to lose ...)

[@4879daniel]

My Pioneer stable platter player also reads the TOC within 2 seconds.

[@skwergs]

Great review, as usual! … and I’ve been loving my P1200 since the late 80’… and it’s still going strong 😉

[@killerguppy2988]

Agree with all of this. I found out that I had a CD in my car for the past 7 years when I had trouble putting a new one in. I would love to see the CD spinning, and I think there are some really cool stroboscopic effects you could do with the CD art. I also love seeing "analog" (now digital-to-appear-analog) meters like UV, volume, EQ, etc. That Technics machine was amazing, especially for the time it was built!

[@dcbcherrygate]

Great video. I wanted the Technics SL-P1200 for DJing but it was waaay to expensive for me at the time. I ended up with a couple of Technics SLP-770 which I hacked with a pitch control before I got my Denon pro gear. Nice to see the Hitachi DA-1000 on here. I ought to get mine out and have it in pride of place with my other old components. I actually got the service manual for the Technics SL-P1200B ( yup - the rare BBC one) - so I could crib the pitch control circuitry for the low end players that I had. ( I still have the manual somewhere) Thanks for this Matt

[@michaelboldys3330]

"Goronta" sounds like something a Podiatrist needs to look at! In all serousness I miss my first CD player a Technics CDC that had the ability to read Chapters, Sub Chapters AND SUB-SUB Chapters. Came in handy for all those Jean-Michel Jarre Albums. Nice video!

[@TighelanderII]

"Goronta" also sounds like a thing that Godzilla would fight.

[@TFinSF]

I was thinking it sounded more like a a venereal disease...

[@raspeaker3941]

This is a beautiful and unique dinosaur. It cannot be upgraded to newer DACs since it has no digital outputs. It looks great if one has an unusual amount of space just for the CD player. I think CD players are cool if they sound good (with digital output) and fit sleekly into my stack of gear. I have some very nice ones that do just that and would prefer them to this great old novelty item.

[@Schweigardt]

Watching Matt practice his DJ tricks makes me want to see a live DJ mix set where they are using two of these units with a mixer and a turntable, including any tricks this unit can do like scratching or cool edit sounds on the fly as today’s DJs like to do. Also another demo video on KZbin shows someone using what looks like a CDR with Alan parsons project written on it, and it seems to be playing just fine. Assuming it was burned in red book format which should make it playable on any CD player? doesn’t look this deck has a track shuffle feature but has everything else. Saw that the SL-P1300 has the missing Coax & Optical digital outputs but otherwise looks almost identical to the 1200.

[@AaronOfMpls]

CD-Rs might play all right in that, though CD-RWs are more problematic in what CD players will play them.

[@sgtcreasegrease]

Pretty sure you wouldn't be able to cut on this, this is why vinyl lasted so long and in some cases still dominates certain EDM genres. The search dial seemed to work like needle dropping except it just looped over and over so you could find the right point on the disk.

[@Schweigardt]

@@sgtcreasegrease I agree, and I was using the word “scratching” in the most generic sense. I was just thinking that there must be some oldskool DJs or studio technicians who used these in the early party DJ/club scenes. they definitely aren’t as sexy as the wheels of steel, which may be why they stayed in the studio or evolved into the pro DJ cd players that are still around today, but those always seemed to be trying really hard to look and act like turntables except with shit ton of more buttons and features. I’ve seen videos here of well-known DJs mixing with two cassette decks or reel-to-reels, so this SL-P1200/1300 doesn’t seem too far fetched to have had a scene it’s own scene for minute or two…

[@sgtcreasegrease]

@@Schweigardt Ye I'm sure maybe some techno guys adopted it, they don't really cut, maybe some scrubbing just to cue up the beat, but I think a reason why they didn't completely catch on was even if there were stuff released on cd, it along with more stuff was probably released on 12" singles and albums too and it made more sense to carry turntables and a mixer than turntables and a cd player. And yeah I can say from experience once you go to wax, static jogwheels are shite in comparison. Reel-to-reel mixing makes sense because manipulation isn't far off from an actual record except fast forwarding is way slower than a needle drop, but you can use the supply reel to find your beat and then use the pitch control to beatmatch. I saw Mix Master Mike talking about how he would mix with two tape decks in the Scratch documentary, I'll have to find some footage of people mixing on tape decks.

[@Schweigardt]

@@sgtcreasegrease check out ruthless ramsey!

[@knowknaime]

Great video! You should look at the Technics SL-DZ1200, it’s a direct drive “digital turntable” that has a number of similar features with a turntable aesthetic. I use it as a regular home CD player, but have also enjoyed it in my home studio as well.

[@desamos8196]

These machines allowed cueing and the playback could be triggered by tape editor/ synchronises , this allowed commercial sound effects libraries, being used in AV program production. The sound effect were re callable by Track. say 15 -dog bark , Index 19- Lassie . Every Post production studio, in the 80's had one of these. The digital output was no use, because vari-speed was essential, to pitch and time adjust the effect you were inserting. Digital output is always at a standard speed and pitch of the masterclock, unless you use sample rate conversion.

[@greenerell484]

cd is 40 years old????

[@svenjansen2134]

Older

[@eliasgflores9858]

First commercially available CD I know of is Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA. 1984

[@Lxodl_1234ga]

​@@eliasgflores9858According to German Wikipedia article of compact disc digital audio, the first mass produced CD was ABBAs last Album "The visitors". Its production began in August 1982 even before the first CD player was produced (November 1982). The english article just states that CDs were commercially released in 1982.

[@Dreamia69]

​​@@eliasgflores9858 yes. I know people who bought it for 199

[@davide8764]

My dad's copy of the wall from pink Floyd is the first cd issue from 1979

[@robertdavis5714]

Always enjoy seeing something I never knew existed, especially when I like it. 61 yrs young and I do not believe this type ever made it to the States because would have bought one back then.

[@johnmichaelrichards]

The early models didn't have XLRs or infra-red remote control: instead, they had two 5-pin DIN sockets: one for data and the other for a wired remote control - as was common in studio usage. You didn't mention the disc-clamp stabilizer, common to this and many high-end players. It was the CD equivalent of weights and clamps on vinyl record players.

[@hyvahyva]

The really cool ones offer serial and "parallel" remote control. The "parallel" remote is really just GPIO, it usually provides contact closure inputs for play, cue, track select, skip forward/back, as well as outpits for status lights. If you have it wired to a mixer or audio console with fader start, you can use the fader start contact to trigger the play input on that jack so a cued track rolls when you pot it up.

[@derekortega595]

This is SO COOL, I LOOOOVE watching my cds spin ( I have a 1990s AIWA system that shows thru the top, a 3 disc carousel ), and I LOVE watching my records turn on the turntable! Your setup is awesome, I DIG your videos, thank you!!

[@ceyhunpasaoglu]

I really like how you combine your personal taste with interesting information on various technological devices and create video essays like this one. They are really enjoyable to watch, and for that, thank you! :)

[@helgenx]

This is the dopest CD player I've ever seen in my life. I'd love to have one.

[@KyoshoLP]

Mat, any chance you could get a picture of the Technics SL-P1200 next to an Atari 2600? Preferable a heavy sixer or one of the black "Vader" models. But literally any model other than the Jr. would work. I can't be the only one that wants to see that.

[@LTTUSA]

I absolutely loved the CD format until I got my first one and traded in my vinyl for the CD versions. Biggest music mistake I ever made. Vinyl and even Tape have a warmth and richness that CD’s just don’t reproduce. All digital for that matter.

[@AdvancedLiving]

I was a DJ at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco in 1990. This episode almost had me in tears. Those were the days. We had 2 of these.

[@winthropdc1]

The Technics SL-P1200 is the CD version of the awesome Technics SL-1200 series of turntables. I have a pair of SL-1200MkII's. The base and feet look almost identical. The pitch control would allow for beat mixing with other tracks with different BPM. This was designed for club DJs more than radio announcers.

[@DjMaidenV]

Huh, here I was thinking the Pioneer CDJ500 from 1994 was the first DJ CD player with a jogwheel and pitch control. Nope, the people who made the gold standard for DJ turntables (SL1200s) beat them by 8 years.

[@SBBUK]

Me too! It went full circle and technics tried to copy pioneer with the Sl-dz1200 player which was a strange hybrid of a cdj and a sl1200 which flopped as it was very flawed (from memory I think the main issues was with noticeable artefacts in the sound when changing speed) but had its fans

[@KRhythm2013]

Pioneer ended up becoming the CDJ standard due to their durability that Technics Panasonic had obviously dropped, and the power of stamping Pioneer across the back and sides so it shows in a club catapulted it. As a vinyl fan, took me years to get any CD decks and both of mine are CDJ1000 mk3s. I'd love 2 of these to go with my 1210 mk2s

[@KyleMiko]

Splendid video as always Mat!

[@nickknight5543]

CD and DVD players never lost their cool.

[@mentalkidgaming357]

DVD players definitely have now that we have 4K Blu Ray players which are backwards compatible

[@audioupgrades]

@@mentalkidgaming357 If you own a lot of DVDs, you'll probably be better off with a DVD player. They're faster and often have dedicated circuits to ensure optimal image and sound playback from a dvd.

[@mentalkidgaming357]

@@audioupgrades youre really trying to tell me that a 4K blu ray player outputs worse image than a DVD player???

[@irixperson]

​@@mentalkidgaming357 A cheap Blu-ray player will probably have a worse output than a high end DVD player and vice versa.

[@David-uf8ex]

Never knew that had any cool lol

[@nicoczako8043]

That SL-P1200 is a beautiful machine. Thank you for sharing! I just bought a Pioneer 6 Disc player from the early 90's and I just wish it had a window to see the disc. It wouldn't work with the design, and it only cost me $10 at a thrift shop so I can't really complain. It is my first CD player edition to my newly created stack currently consisting of the CD player, a Yamaha Cassette player and my laptop connected to a Cambridge Audio Stereo receiver and a couple KEF bookshelf speakers. I've been a fan of physical media and audio for a while but have just finally been able to put together a setup. I like to flick on the cassette player and have it carry on wherever it previously stopped when I'm in the room. It's convenient and seeing the reels spin is stimulating enough to my eyes for enjoying the music. It feels more purposeful to use than Spotify. I love your videos, they are always intriguing, thanks Techmoan.

[@GentleGiantFan]

One of my best friends back in the day had a JVC 5 disc changer. You loaded the discs on top like you would a record on a turn table. It was pretty cool being able to watch the disc spin and, after the first disc finished playing, seeing the carousel rotate to the next disc. Cool video.