tlz@druxu.UUCP (ZrustTL) (04/16/85)
I would like some info about the Magnovox 2040 CD player. I'm looking for a relativly inexpensive player but don't want something that will break in 3 months. I've heard good things about the Sony 102/302 players but I don't have $450/550 to spend so I'm interested in the $230 Magnovox 2040. If the extra $200-300 buys significant mechanical reliability, I would like some idea of how much. Note to "golden earred" audiophiles: My ears interpret no difference in sound quality between the Mag. 2040 and anything else I have heard so far so PLEASE, I only want to know about mechanical reliability differences, tracking reliability, etc. Programmability is not an issue, either. druxu!tlz _ Terry L. Zrust (_) /~\ A.T.&T. Information Systems /~\ / \/\ 11900 North Pecos Street / \ /\ / | \ \ Denver, Colorado 80234 /\ / \ \/ /|\ \ \ Mail Stop 30J15 / \ / \ / //|\\ \ \ (303) 538-4547 ___ \_/ ___ \ ///|\\\ _\ Cornet 374-4547 _________________ _______ | ______
rfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) (04/16/85)
[] So why don't you buy the Sony 102 for $309 mail order from Stereo Corp of America - as long as you can't afford $450? -- "It's the thought, if any, that counts!" Dick Grantges hound!rfg
ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) (04/16/85)
> I would like some info about the Magnovox 2040 CD player. > I'm looking for a relativly inexpensive player but don't want > something that will break in 3 months. I've heard good things > about the Sony 102/302 players but I don't have $450/550 to spend > so I'm interested in the $230 Magnovox 2040. If the extra $200-300 > buys significant mechanical reliability, I would like some idea of > how much. I can only think of one way to find out how reliable a piece of equipment is, and that involves waiting five to ten years. Since doing that would defeat the purpose, perhaps you might try the next best thing: pretend you have a broken one and see how easy it is to get it serviced. Try to find the nearest factory service center and see how long it takes. Then call them and ask what their turn-around time is for the model you're contemplating. Do they normally have parts in stock? And so on. Other than that, I dunno. I'm partial to front-loaders, myself. You can pile things on top of them.
dca@edison.UUCP (David C. Albrecht) (04/17/85)
> I would like some info about the Magnovox 2040 CD player. > I'm looking for a relativly inexpensive player but don't want > something that will break in 3 months. I've heard good things > about the Sony 102/302 players but I don't have $450/550 to spend > so I'm interested in the $230 Magnovox 2040. If the extra $200-300 > buys significant mechanical reliability, I would like some idea of > how much. > I think you will be very happy with the Magnovox player. I have had a 2040 for ~6 mos. now and have had no trouble. In general I have heard only good things about the players, the price is right, error correction is quite good. My roomate has a Hitachi 1000 and one of the new Sony players with the linear motors and digital filters (which he has already had to take back). The Maganavox is better than the Hitachi as far as ability to track bad spots on disks and very close to as good as the Sony (when the Sony was working right). The Magnavox does not skip to selections near as fast as the new Sony. Some of the "high end" players have a significant percentage of the same guts as the Magnavox as the got the parts from Philips (Magnavox's european parent). David Albrecht
greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley) (04/22/85)
> I would like some info about the Magnovox 2040 CD player. > I'm looking for a relativly inexpensive player but don't want > something that will break in 3 months. I've heard good things > about the Sony 102/302 players but I don't have $450/550 to spend > so I'm interested in the $230 Magnovox 2040. If the extra $200-300 > buys significant mechanical reliability, I would like some idea of > how much. > If, as you say later in your article, you dismiss sonic differences between the players, then the one area in which the Philips/Maganavox players have been markedly superior to many others (and, specifically, to earlier Sony players) has been in the tracking and error correction. A number of test reports in European magazines (specifically, Hi-Fi News and Record Review, Hi-Fi For Pleasure in England, and Audio, Fono Forum, and Stereoplay, in Germany) have commented on the fact that discs that produced either full muting or audible "clicks" on Sony units could be played with no difficulty on the Philips. Note, though, that the reports I've read have all predated the latest "3rd generation" Sony players you mention. Unfortunately, I haven't had access to these European magazines since the release of the new Sony's (I trust them more than the Americans since they seem to be much more frank in pointing out the deficiencies of equipment, particularly with regard to mechanical construction). I know that the new Sony's have a redesigned tracking mechanism which is supposed to provide superior performance to their own earlier models, but I've heard of no direct comparisons with the Philips/Magnavox players. As good as the Philips/Magnavox models are, I would highly doubt that the new Sony models could be so superior as to be worth the extra money. - Greg Paley