Recently I downgraded my system to make/save some money, and one of the things I tried was using a few cheap old DVD players, with a coax digital output, as CD transports.
For a number of reasons, it wasn't working out, one of them those things being really noisy during operation.
That and they don't sound so good.
However, I've always been a huge fan of the Shigaclone projects, and similar diy CD players.
Also, the player I'd been using for many years before the change, was a 47 Labs Shigaraki.
So naturally, I took one of the DVD players apart, ripped out all of the tray mechanism bits, mounted the laser mechanism on a piece of wood, and it worked without any issues.
I also ripped out and used the existing magnetic puck of the player - which ist being used in the majority of CD players - fixed the little lever thingy into place that tells the player if the tray is closed or open - and I had a perfectly fine top loading CD transport.
Minus most of the vibrations/noise and other possible problems that are related to the tray itself, and the moving up/down of the laser mechanism when the tray is being opened or closed.
All the buttons and the remote were working fine too.
Until I blew up the PSU, but let's not talk about that.
So why aren't there more top loading players or transports?
You have to pay a lot of money to get one of those, as most of them are in the high-end segment of the audio market.
Yet it eliminates a lot of the possible issues, actually saves money in production, and you have to get off the chair to change the CD anyways.
Granted, there needs to be a little bit of extra space above the player, but that's about it.
Now I own a used Onkyo 7030, which is very nice; but I can't stop wondering why the thing is so big, and what it would be like if there was just a little drawer or lid on top of the laser mechanism, instead of the tray, which is likely to create issues one day.
Well, sorry if it was a bit of a rant; but I'm curious what your thoughts are, and if perhaps some of you did a simple conversion from tray or slot loading to top laoding.
The projects I've seen, whether it's upgrading a player or building one more or less from scratch, don't seem to cover a relatively simple mod like that.
For a number of reasons, it wasn't working out, one of them those things being really noisy during operation.
That and they don't sound so good.
However, I've always been a huge fan of the Shigaclone projects, and similar diy CD players.
Also, the player I'd been using for many years before the change, was a 47 Labs Shigaraki.
So naturally, I took one of the DVD players apart, ripped out all of the tray mechanism bits, mounted the laser mechanism on a piece of wood, and it worked without any issues.
I also ripped out and used the existing magnetic puck of the player - which ist being used in the majority of CD players - fixed the little lever thingy into place that tells the player if the tray is closed or open - and I had a perfectly fine top loading CD transport.
Minus most of the vibrations/noise and other possible problems that are related to the tray itself, and the moving up/down of the laser mechanism when the tray is being opened or closed.
All the buttons and the remote were working fine too.
Until I blew up the PSU, but let's not talk about that.
So why aren't there more top loading players or transports?
You have to pay a lot of money to get one of those, as most of them are in the high-end segment of the audio market.
Yet it eliminates a lot of the possible issues, actually saves money in production, and you have to get off the chair to change the CD anyways.
Granted, there needs to be a little bit of extra space above the player, but that's about it.
Now I own a used Onkyo 7030, which is very nice; but I can't stop wondering why the thing is so big, and what it would be like if there was just a little drawer or lid on top of the laser mechanism, instead of the tray, which is likely to create issues one day.
Well, sorry if it was a bit of a rant; but I'm curious what your thoughts are, and if perhaps some of you did a simple conversion from tray or slot loading to top laoding.
The projects I've seen, whether it's upgrading a player or building one more or less from scratch, don't seem to cover a relatively simple mod like that.
A turntable occupies the uppermost shelve of my rack, so this is where top loading becomes an issue. The CD player has to take up a lower shelve. Even a low-rise cover like what is found on the Technics SC-C70MK2 requires that a user contortion their hand in a manner to slide it between the top of the player and the next upper shelf whilst holding a CD to position it on the spindle.
Fair enough, many people might want or need a CD player, that doesn't require additional space on top.
But still - eliminating the tray or slot loading mechanisms seems like a fairly simple modification, that might benefit sound quality and longevity.
There are of course other solutions; I used to own a Naim CD5x before the Shigaraki, even used a Marantz CD 73 for a while; both of them some sort of top loaders, just without the having to be on top part.
Both are also either fairly expensive still, Naims in particular,
In the case of the Marantz, and the Philips 303 it was based on, or many vintage players of the kind; they are too old by now to be reliable, and without decent outputs.
Another fairly convenient top loading player, which I used for a long time, was the Rega Planet MkI; great looking thing.
Just prone to skipping and a bit garbage overall.
Still wished I'd kept it to modify it eventually.
But still - eliminating the tray or slot loading mechanisms seems like a fairly simple modification, that might benefit sound quality and longevity.
There are of course other solutions; I used to own a Naim CD5x before the Shigaraki, even used a Marantz CD 73 for a while; both of them some sort of top loaders, just without the having to be on top part.
Both are also either fairly expensive still, Naims in particular,
In the case of the Marantz, and the Philips 303 it was based on, or many vintage players of the kind; they are too old by now to be reliable, and without decent outputs.
Another fairly convenient top loading player, which I used for a long time, was the Rega Planet MkI; great looking thing.
Just prone to skipping and a bit garbage overall.
Still wished I'd kept it to modify it eventually.
... and least but not last Meridian MCD Pro
Looks like a re-badged Philips 101 with some extra thing attached to the bottom - love it!
Is it time to discuss Pioneer's stable platter architecture ?
It's always the time to discuss that.
Unfortunately those are of the past, for all intents and purposes.
The closest players today might be the Naim CD players with the pivoting drawer.