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CD player with separate play and pause buttons?

Trying to replace the overpriced & unreliable Denon CD players with a model in the $200 range. Unfortunately most of them have a combined play/pause button and this causes big problems with the fader start. Is there a model under $300 with XLR out and separate play and pause buttons?
 
No, there is not. More like $600-$800 upwards. XLR Balanced out is pricey. You are looking at Denon Pro, Marantz Pro, Tascam, or HHb territory.
 
Actually, Numark makes a single disk CD player with XLR outputs. I'm pretty sure it has separate play and pause buttons. Unless you are controlling it with a club DJ style mixer, I've found you have to modify most club grade CD players to work on the usual broadcast console remote starts. The easiest way is to use a small relay that parallels the front panel buttons.
 
Kent T said:
The Numark has a combined play/pause button. OK for light use, not OK for heavy use if you expect it to last.

I've been able to buy about four of them for less than the price of one "heavy duty professional" model. They last about 1/2 as long as the "best" so the economics favour Neumark 2:1. They're reasonably resistant to the most ham-handed personnel but the key is never to try to fix one when it finally breaks. Just trash it and take another one out of the box. You're financially ahead of the game and, since most players now are not heavily used live on-air nobody has even noticed the combined play/pause.
 
No prob finding cheap players with XLR out. But nothing with separate play and pause buttons.

If I ever work out the 555 circuit to make it work right, I'll post a diagram.
 
Kent T said:
Please do so, never know when one might need to get a cheapie player and use it in emergencies.

Your mileage may vary, but I've found the cheap decks usually hold up as well as their more expensive cousins. They are just cheaper to replace.
 
Chuck is right on...I NEVER buy the big names, and keep a couple of the cheepies on hand at all times....Much more cost effective and you can replace almost instantly...ever try to repair any cd player? NOT! JBI
 
And so is a hundred dollar mower a better device when it's operated by a ten dollar an hour worker.

My experience with jocks in the studio isn't like it was when the equipment was durable... either way, they'll figure out how to destroy it; even if by accident.
 
I got it to work! I used a modified version of this circuit:
http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/Circuits/Switching/debounce.htm
I omitted the 47nF cap and 1 meg resistor on the switch, and the 10nf cap on pin 5. I changed C1 to 10uF and R1 to 180k. Pin 3 goes to a reed relay with a snubbing diode across the coil, cathode on the high side. The circuit keeps the relay closed for about 2 seconds, enough to mask any press or release bounce from the switch. The 2 second closure doesn't bother the CD player, if it did I would put a timing capacitor on the relay closure to make it 50 ms or so.

I had to learn to friggin' solder to get it to work right. First attempt was too sloppy and didn't work!

I tried about a dozen different circuits before I came up with the modified 555 circuit. It's pretty much the only thing that will work with this particular configuration.

MESSAGE TO DENON: This is how much your DN-C635 "professional" CD player sucks. I taught myself electronics and learned to solder just so we wouldn't have to use your overpriced, unreliable, clunky, finicky POS. We wasted about $5000 on those things.
 
@Fenris: I had several of the older version of the DN-C635 players (the exact model escapes me at the moment) and they actually held up well. I don't know the exact nature of the failure(s) you had but I'm not surprised if it's a heavily used studio.

Just because the word "professional" is silk screened on the front doesn't mean it's so. In recent months I acquired several Denon DN-C620's and Tascam CDU-01 Pro players. It stymies me why the hell anybody would develop a slot-load player for STUDIO use! All the players had their disc loading roller covered with dust and debris, making it impossible to eject the disc. Once that was clean 80% of the players worked with one Tascam having a bad transport sensor. I'm not surprised the station that owned these pitched them.

JBoyd has it right on the money - buy inexpensive CD players and consider them disposable. The AM oldies outlet I engineered had Technics SL-P1200 players that became more of a nightmare than anybody would have imagined. The eventually got swapped in the air studio for $100 Technics home units with externally added push buttons with the AutoCue function that was hidden on the front panel PC board. I wired in a remote start to the console via a DIN plug and it worked like a charm.

For those still using CD players it comes down to do you want to be married to a high-end player and be committed to servicing it (i.e., bearings, lasers, re-alignment, etc.) or just buying a small truckload of cheapo players and tossing them when they crap out.
 
Denon also stands for Darned Equipment Never Operates Normally. You are not alone with Denon gear failing and giving short lifespans. And this goes for Denon consumer and professional lines alike.
 
How about the Stanton CD-500? It has RCA audio, single play/pause button and fader start capability. I see them on ebay under $300 quite often.
 
They're OK for light to moderate use, actually more reliable than the Denons. Cheap enough, they can be written off sooner.
 
We have the single-deck version, the C402. It developed an annoying problem where it produces a loud click at the end of each song. I may have damaged it when I was trying out a bunch of different debounce circuits. A new one is on the way, hopefully it works and I don't have to try a different brand.
 
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