Technics SL-PD5 5-Disc CD Changer

I bought this unit from Best Buy a while back for only $98 (less than most sub-par portables!). at such a low price, one would expect the PD5 to be a shoddy piece of audio equipment, but i have found the opposite...

the SL-PD5 has quite a wide frequency response (2-20000 Hz) and features the famous MASH D/A circuitry. for those who don't understand, this simply means that the unit sounds REALLLLLLLLLLLY nice.

audio outputs are availible as analog line-level RCA jacks and as a TOSlink optical digital output. Being a minidisc user, i find this to be a very strong selling point, because many similarly-priced models lack the digital output. the dual output allows one to record digitally without having to disconnect any wires (true convenience!).

the front panel has a well-sized flourescent panel, which indicates loaded trays, time, current disc, current track, and play mode. while most of the display is lit up in a light blue color, more important information (current disc, play mode) is intelligently highlighted with red lighting. all of the controls are present on the front panel, and all keys are large enough to allow easy operation. along with the standard play controls (play, pause, stop, skip, search), there is also a 12-button keypad with which one can enter track numbers to directly search to another song. tracks 1-10 have devoted keys, while a special ">10" key is pressed to signal the player that the following two number commands make up a two-digit number (one needs not worry about the inability to search to a possible track 100, as the Compact Disc format does not allow for more than 99 tracks).

playmodes include standard play, repeat play, single-disc random play (all tracks on one disc are played in random order, then the process is repeated with the next disc), full-span random play (all tracks from all discs are played in random order), "spiral play" (track 1 from each disc is played, then track 2 from each disc, etc), delete programming (skips over programmed songs), and standard programming (plays only programmed songs). Spiral play is useful for playing singles, as the title tracks are all played, then any b-sides, remixes, etc. follow. Delete programming is indespensible for discs with songs which one simply does not like, and program play is a wonderful tool for recording mix discs/tapes. all programmes are saved into the player's memory and will stay there for 2 weeks, despite any disconnections from the power source.

features this unit lacks from its more expensive siblings are few and far between. while the more advanced (and expensive) SL-PD8 offers a feature which automatically inserts silence and rearranges tracks for recording tapes, this feature is seems quite frivolous now that the cassette format is losing popularity. the PD8 also offers a remote, but seeing as how some people (like me) are always within arm's reach of their audio equipment, i find this unnecessary. also exclusive to the SL-PD5 is an ID scan function, which searches for the first loud passage in a song and plays ten seconds of it before repeating the same thing with the next track. while this is convenient to find a track on an unfamiliar disc, it is all but useless on discs where one has memorized the locations of their favorite songs (and you can always look on the CD's case to find the track number. finally, the PD8 has little lights on each disc's button, showing you which one is currently playing. i question this item's necesity, however, since the disc's number is glowing in a bright blue hue only an inch above the button. the SL-PD8 offers little more usefulness than the PD5.

NOTE: the SL-PD5 is compatible with CD-Rs, 3" CDs, and DTS format discs. it IS NOT compatible with CD-RW discs.