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CD Players....

C

ChiefOperator

Folks,

An AM/FM combo is looking to get a couple CD players for on-air use. The players will see only light use because most of the music is on HD. The stations are looking at the Stanton C500 (dual player) and the Stanton C402 (single player). I believe the players have balanced outputs as well as remote start inputs.

Does anyone have experience with these players? Any reviews are appreciated.

As always, thanks....
 
Stanton CD players are good. The unit I installed (don't remember the model) did have remote start capability but unbalanced outputs.
 
I've only seen the Stantons and never played with them - I've heard mixed results about them but I suppose it's all who you talk to.

I'm liquidating my personal webcast studio and have four of the Denon DN-961FA players (these are the ones with the drawers and don't use CD caddies) that need a good home. Contact me off-list if you're interested.
 
ChiefOperator said:
Folks,

An AM/FM combo is looking to get a couple CD players for on-air use. The players will see only light use because most of the music is on HD. The stations are looking at the Stanton C500 (dual player) and the Stanton C402 (single player). I believe the players have balanced outputs as well as remote start inputs.

Does anyone have experience with these players? Any reviews are appreciated.

As always, thanks....
Click to expand...

Boooooooo, booooooo.... ::throws tomatoes::

Those Stanton's have S/PDIF out, but other than that they're RCA all the way baby. If you want to get decent balanced outputs...you're gonna have to spend some money. Plus it's Stanton....there is a reason why they're $199 bucks, and there is a reason why the company's original name was "Stanton Magnetics"....I'll take their phonograph cartridges, but their CD players...not so much...That's just my personal opinion though.

Hence why I like the Tascam CD01UPRO....even at $600 a pop....They read MP3, you can remote start, they have unbalanced, balanced, and digital I/O's, they're easy to use, and they can read MP3s...even VBR files =)
 
ChiefOperator said:
Folks,

An AM/FM combo is looking to get a couple CD players for on-air use. The players will see only light use because most of the music is on HD. The stations are looking at the Stanton C500 (dual player) and the Stanton C402 (single player). I believe the players have balanced outputs as well as remote start inputs.

Does anyone have experience with these players? Any reviews are appreciated.

As always, thanks....
Click to expand...

You may want to read this thread for some good tips: http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,87767.0.html
 
We have a Stanton. Its ok for the price. If you want a GOOD cd player try a Denon. The Tascam cd-01u model design has some failure issues. Ive had a couple give up and I know of eveal others that have had them fail also. I know they are the same company now but the Denon and Tacam lines were designed before that merger...
 
For light use the Denon DN-961FA are a pretty good bet. They can't handle day to day use without breaking down after a year.
 
I had a Denon CD changer in my trunk for 7 years, never had a problem...operated in temperatures between -20 and 130.

But the Denon shuck CD players in a controlled environment? Forget it, bearings every 6 months. Garbage! Audiometrics made better units.

If I was building a studio and needed CD players, I'd either get the more expensive Tascam units, or I'd buy two sets of the Stanton dual CD units...and when one kicks the bucket...throw the other one in. I have had a unit since 2003, it gets very light use, and still works great.
 
OKCRadioGuy said:
We have a Stanton. Its ok for the price. If you want a GOOD cd player try a Denon. The Tascam cd-01u model design has some failure issues. Ive had a couple give up and I know of eveal others that have had them fail also. I know they are the same company now but the Denon and Tacam lines were designed before that merger...
Click to expand...

That's interesting about what happened with your Tascams, I know we beat the hell out of ours and they've performed flawlessly. What kind of failure issues did you experience, this might be something I need to look out for....
 
Pickup failure after a year of production room use. I have a friend in another market that had the same experience. I have heard of others having similar issues.
 
I've had my 961's for years and I've never seen a pickup failure. Grant, for my webcast the usage isn't nearly what an abusive 24/7 multi-jock studio would endure, but they still got use. I suppose it's all in how they're treated and handled by the staff.
 
The Denon machines (DN-961FA et al) seem to mainly have mechanical issues. Primarily it is bearings that give the most problems.
I remember when the FM station I was working for in the early 90s got their first DN-951 CD Cart players - I think they were only used for a couple of months before the spindle bearings were shot.
Mind you, they were being used 24/7 as on-air music sources in a 1 - 2 rotational playback arrangement. Even still, one would expect the bearings to last longer than that!
I haven't seen what the latest commercial offering from Denon is in regards to CD players (have they even released one?) but what would be really nice is something like the DN-961FA that plays mp3 files with an uprated laser and spindle motor/bearing assembly - or at least one that lasts the distance you'd expect from a machine of this nature.
I've not seen the Tascam that everyone refers to so can't comment on it. The trend these days seems to be to buy a cheap crappy made in China piece of junk - thrash it til it dies, then get another one.
 
The fact is that hard drive space is cheap. I just purchased a 160 gig drive for $80. A majority of people have gone to music on hard drive because of this. Dependable CD players are not in great demand anymore, so they are making cheaper players. I worked with WFPK in Louisville for about a year until they could find a full time engineer. They play music, live, 24/7. We were constantly having CD player problems. The size of the music library precludes us from loading it on hard drive because we'd need a massive server to hold it all.

My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.....no, wait, wrong advice. Seriously I would not get my expectations high and to count on replacing CD players on a yearly basis. AND, to keep a couple of CD players on the shelf in the shop for backups.
 
I believe Numark sells a $199 CD player that has XLR outputs. We've had a Numark dual deck in our production room for over 5 years and had no problems with daily use. Maybe we've been lucky. In any case, you should look at these things as disposable. It is all too easy for a headphone cord to get caught on an open CD drawer and rip it right out. These things happen, even to expensive CD players. I like the disposable versions myself.... YMMY
 
Maybe it's because I've seen a lot of junk, or perhaps I've just got a mental block, but I find it hard to reconcile the idea of using a product made by what is essentially a DJ company in a radio studio - even if it does have XLR outputs.
I've just checked out the Numark MP102, and while it has all the features one would want, it reeks of "DJ". It's the sort of thing I'd expect to see in a nightclub somewhere, not in a professional radio studio.
I realise they are producing a machine that is designed to cater to various markets, but the front end of it just doesn't yell "radio" at me.

The Denon DN-C640 looks like an interesting unit. What's the verdict on it?
 
Studio1 said:
Maybe it's because I've seen a lot of junk, or perhaps I've just got a mental block, but I find it hard to reconcile the idea of using a product made by what is essentially a DJ company in a radio studio - even if it does have XLR outputs.
I've just checked out the Numark MP102, and while it has all the features one would want, it reeks of "DJ". It's the sort of thing I'd expect to see in a nightclub somewhere, not in a professional radio studio.
I realise they are producing a machine that is designed to cater to various markets, but the front end of it just doesn't yell "radio" at me.

The Denon DN-C640 looks like an interesting unit. What's the verdict on it?
Click to expand...

Many years ago, I used to sell this kind of stuff for a living. I can't speak for today's equipment, but we had far more problems with Denon CD decks than anything we sold except for Gemini. They were very disappointing, especially considering the price. Hopefully they have improved.

My observation from a sales and service point of view (we had a service department) is most all of these things are OK electronically, but the transports are where all the problems come from. For the most part, the CD transports are very similar...and cheaply built.

The Denons of the day used to use Sony transports. So did several other “DJ” type CD players. They just didn’t retail for as much money. I can’t tell you whose transport Denon uses these days, but I’ll bet they don’t actually make it themselves. Most likely it is sourced from China like everything else.

It is your nickel, but lots of radio stations do use "club" style CD players. The abuse they get in a nightclub is probably even worse than most radio talent can dish out. Cigarette smoke and fog machines haze, coupled with spilled drinks and general abuse from a DJ that is "high on life," are normal in night clubs. Hopefully, your radio studio isn't quite as uncontrolled an environment.

I don't sell any of this kind of stuff now. I manage a radio station and have a budget I must work within. The simple fact that you can buy three "DJ" type CD players for about the same (or maybe less) money than some higher priced transports at least catches my attention.
 
Don't Take This Personally, but...

Studio1 said:
I've just checked out the Numark MP102, and while it has all the features one would want, it reeks of "DJ". It's the sort of thing I'd expect to see in a nightclub somewhere, not in a professional radio studio.
Click to expand...

Professional radio stations man up, buy a terribyte hard drive, and rip all their music to .wav files. CD players aren't used 24/7/365 at professional radio stations in this milennium.

If the Numark does what it needs to do, and the price is right, buy a couple for ripping CDs and hide them behind a door when they're not in use. Either that, or load up a computer with multiple CD player decks and get ripping.
 
when you rip those cd's,make darn sure you do a back up hard drive.i hand picked almost 500 songs on a 160 gig western digital,only to have it die 2 days later.Sure wish i would have made a back up,but who would have thought the new hard drive would die in 2 days? i've had hard drives running 24/7 for 4 years now(knock on wood) with no problems.
 
:) Then after you've backed up your HD, hide the original CD's where you can get to them quickly, buy a couple of "DJ" style CD players, put in the wiring into the console for them-- THEN hide the CD players where you can find them.

When the ultimate doomsday virus hits (spread by a downloaded Mickie-d's spot sabotaged by a disgruntled employee at some production house)--you can drag out the CD's and CD players and be the hero of the moment. :D
 
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