List of early vertical loading CD players

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Peacekeepr73, Jun 4, 2011.

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  1. Jay F

    Jay F New Member

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Or other vintage Kyocera.
     
  2. Peacekeepr73

    Peacekeepr73 Digitally Remastered Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Wyoming, Michigan
    Seeing as there happens to be no record of my Soundesign 5055-BLK anywhere on the web here is the scoop and a few pictures. It was manufactured in 1989 (June) and there are two chips from Yamaha and one from Sanyo under the hood.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    tmtomh likes this.
  3. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    Heh, I like how the Soundesign unit tells you "fluorescent graphic display."
     
  4. Downsampled

    Downsampled Senior Member

    LOL! Didn't notice that.
     
  5. carlane3

    carlane3 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scranton PA USA
    These were really cool looking
     
  6. alfeizar

    alfeizar Active Member

    Location:
    Argentina
    :thumbsup:
     
  7. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Actually, I was very disappointed that the SL-P1200's performance was so bad. Lot of tracking and skipping problems. I think they improved the tracking on the later SL-P1300, plus the latter had a better remote control.

    But it did look very, very cool. [Replacement shot for the linked pic that mysteriously vanished.]
     

    Attached Files:

  8. inperson

    inperson Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    Is that a pitch control on the right side of the player?
     
  9. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Yes, the P1200 and the P1300 did have a DJ-style pitch control on the right. You could also use the jog/shuttle knob to cue the CD very precisely to the very first frame of the music, which on-air DJs liked so that they fire off tracks without any delay.

    The P1200 was built like a tank -- I swear, it must've been at least 20-25 pounds. It really looked impressive, too. I think the P1300 added balanced XLR outputs.

    If this was the June '82 show, a lot of firms were privately showing CD prototypes in suites at McCormick Inn, a block from the convention center. Both Philips and Sony had been showing CD prototypes for years; I did an interview with a Polydor exec all about CDs in 1981 at the Vegas CES, and he told me then (off the record), "don't sell your LPs -- there will always be titles that won't be reissued on CD," which I thought was an unusual comment.

    JVC had fought the CD trend by pushing their own AHD "Audio High Density" format, which was a 10" capacitive disc that went nowhere. They were so chagrined that AHD failed, they held back from making any CD players for a couple of years, I think not until at least 1984 or 1985.
     
  10. Downsampled

    Downsampled Senior Member

    He should have told you, "Buy all the red face and green arrow CDs that you can. They will be worth a ton of money someday!"
     
    John Bliss and tmtomh like this.
  11. lechiffre

    lechiffre Forum Resident

    Location:
    phoenix
    In 1986 When I bought my first component system, a Fisher Studio Standard 275. The salesman tried to get me to upgrade to a front loading CD player.

    The Fisher ad-850

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  12. Pibroch

    Pibroch Active Member

    Location:
    Dayton, OH
    I've got a couple of older Sharp front-loaders like that, which my grandparents bought in the 80's.
     
  13. gener8tr

    gener8tr Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver, WA USA
    I'm an owner. Here's my little 80's bedroom rig (save for the turntable, which is a mid 70's Pio).

    [​IMG]

    Damn thing works like new!
     
  14. Technics' first CD player was the front loader SL-P10:

    [​IMG]

    I have the demo CD in the player in the picture - some awful Japanese pop music covers of western songs.

    There is a handful of front loaders and their clones on this site:

    www.thevintageknob.org
     
    tmtomh likes this.
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