kaepplein@amber.DEC (08/22/85)
****** note ****** Could someone (dsj?) send me a copy of HiFi News & Record Review January 1985 articles on Phillips based players? The reason that the Mission player is down at 20hz is that they probably replaced the high-pass filtering electrolytic capacitor with a polypropelene (or other quality film) that was of lower value causing a higher cut-off frequency, but saving space and sounding much better. At the high end, they probably elected for a gentler filter at a lower cut-off frequency that had less phase distortion and ringing. I just bought a Magnavox 4010 ($168.95) and want to see reviews on it and modified versions of it. I ordered a service manual and intend to modify it, but wanted to see what things folks like Mission and Meridian did to it. I tried to order a service manual from Mission, but they don't have one - North American Phillips does all the service for them - you just send your broken player to a Phillips service center. The Mission people said they have a new player comming out at the end of the year - probably based on a new 16 bit (versus current 14 bit) Phillips player. Perhaps they are trying to unload the 14 bit models, although mine was made in June '85. The new player will certainly cost more but probably have cost reduced manufacture. Musical Concepts will modify a Magnavox for $150 + postage. This seems a bit steep since the thing cost about that in the first place!!! But it is still cheaper than the modification that Mission makes for $500 - called the Mission 7000. I'm pretty down on CDs, but couldn't resist the price and the chance to experiment with improvements. I was amazed at the quality of the player I got for $170. The chasis is cast aluminum, many film caps (mostly mylar), good power rectification, and good ground plane shielding on the PC boards. The ribbon cables are a little untidy and there are not seperate chasis segments for the: reader, power supply, digital and analogue circuitry as Sony has done for their brand new generation. The Magnavox sounded good, a little better than my mediocre Kenwood/Grace turntable - though not enough better to warrent paying twice as much for recordings. Money saved on LPs can be applied to a good turntable! Mark Kaepplein Digital Equipment Corp 150 Locke Drive LMO4/H4 Box 1015 Marlborough, MA 01752-9115 (617) 480-6652 ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-amber!kaepplein ARPAnet: Kaepplein@Dec-Marlboro.ARPA PS I would greatly appreciate getting the reviews, since back issues are difficult to locate and I need to know as much as possible about the different Phillips modifications. I will gladly refund any expenses, and eventually share my adventure in net.audio when done.