jeff@tesla.UUCP (Jeff Frey) (09/04/83)
Just back from Tokyo, here are my impressions of the Japanese CD scene: 1. The vertical-load player, which lets you see the spinning disc but requires a lot of vertical clearance, is on the way out. I saw the LO-D (Hitachi) player being sold out for Y100,000 (about $410) and no new models are being introduced in this configuration. Low-height models are advertised now as "standard-size" (su-tan-da-do sa-e-zu). 2. National/Panasonic recently introduced a player at Y110K and Yamaha has just introduced one at Y100K. The Yamaha is a sliding-drawer model that looks like the Sony CDP-101 but has the limited track selection capability of the Philips/Magnavox. Y100K means a discount price of about $330. The end of the Linn Sondek is getting closer. 3. None of the new players is accompanied by any claims for performance improvement; it`s only price, features, or size that is differentiating them. 4. The CD software list available in Japan seems to be mostly DG, European imports. CBS/Sony hasn`t released much new. Denon`s, Telarc`s, RCA, and EMI (Angel) are now available. I picked up a Denon of the Tchaikovsky 5th Symph. (Phila. Orch., Ormandy) which sounds very non-resonant and odd. I`ll have to try this one again when I`ve got more time. JF