HHB comm CDR800 User Manual

HHB CDR-800 Professional Compact Disc Recorder. HHB Communications USA, LLC, 1410 Centinela Ave., Los An­geles, CA 90025, (310) 319-1111, FAX (310) 319-1311, E-Mail sales@hhbusa. com; Website www.hhbusa.com.
HHB Communications is a British-based firm specializing in digital audio record­ing equipment and media for the profes­sional audio industry. In addition to CD recorders, HHB manufactures portable DAT recorders, a line of vacuum-tube processors (including mike preamps, compressors, and parametric equalizers), and studio monitor loudspeakers (includ­ing nearfield monitors and powered sub­woofers). HHB also distributes the Genex line of high bit rate, high sampling rate magneto-optical digital recorders. Their complete line of digital media includes professional-quality recordable compact discs (CD–R), ADAT tapes, MiniDiscs (MD), and rewriteable magneto-optical (MO) discs.
The CDR–800 Compact Disc recorder (Photo 1) has been on the market for over two years. At the time it was introduced, the CDR–800 repre­sented a price breakthrough in profes­sional CD recorders. The list price of $2200 has become irrelevant, since the unit now sells for around $1200 at most pro audio dealers.
The CDR–800 looks suspiciously like the Pioneer PDR–05 and PDR–99 con­sumer CD recorders, which are essential­ly identical—the PDR–99 is marketed as part of Pioneer’s Elite line, and features their glossy Urushi front panel and Rose­wood side panels. While based on the consumer models, the CDR–800 is actu­ally manufactured by Pioneer for the pro­audio user, and incorporates a number of features not found on the consumer units. The Pioneer consumer players have only unbalanced (RCA) analog in­puts and outputs, along with S/PDIF and Toslink digital inputs and outputs. To these interfaces, the CDR–800 adds bal­anced XLR analog inputs, along with a balanced XLR AES/EBU digital input (Photo 2).
All analog and digital outputs on the CDR–800 remain unbalanced. This may appear odd at first, but most pro audio users are likely to use the CDR–800 with an external digital processor for play-
back, making balanced analog outputs unnecessary. One other important differ­ence between the CDR–800 and its Pio­neer counterparts concerns the types of recordable CDs you can use. The Pioneer consumer machines will only recognize consumer-type CD–R blanks. The CDR–800 will also work with computer­type CD blanks. The CDR–800 is also equipped with standard 19-inch rack mounts.
One important feature of the CDR–800 is Pioneer’s Stable-Platter mechanism (Photo 3), which includes a full-size platter upon which the CD is placed upside down. There are a couple of advantages to this system. First, the disc is supported over its entire surface, minimizing vibration, which, in turn, should reduce clock jitter. This serves the same purpose as the disc dampers many of us have used, but Pioneer’s solu­tion is far more effective. Second, the laser now faces down, so it is far less like­ly to accumulate dust.
Operation
Operationally, the HHB CDR–800 is ex­tremely well thought out, and is really not much more difficult to operate than an analog cassette deck. For the most
32
Audio Electronics 2/00
P
RODUCT
R
EVIEW
HHB Compact Disc Recorder
Reviewed by Gary Galo
PHOTO 1: Front view of the HHB CDR–800 Profes­sional Compact Disc Recorder and its remote control.
PHOTO 2: Rear panel of the CDR–800. In addition to the RCA-type analog and digital inputs, balanced XLR analog in­puts and an AES/EBU balanced digital input are also provided.
part, the manual is clearly written, and includes numerous illustrations. Input and output connections are straightfor­ward, but the rear panel also contains a couple of switches that you may need to reset. A three-position slide switch locat­ed between the balanced analog input connectors selects either the unbalanced RCA line inputs or the balanced XLR
connectors at +4dBu or −8dBu levels.
A digital out switch mutes the digital outputs if only the analog outputs are used. You select digital copy permis­sion/prohibition with a pair of DIP switches, which you can set to allow un­limited copies of your recording, one­time-only copying, or no copying at all. Since the CDR–800 is a professional product, it is not bound by the consumer Serial Copy Management System—the user controls the copy management.
Input selection is done with a momen­tary contact button on the front panel— you toggle through the various analog and digital inputs by repeatedly depress­ing the button. The CDR–800 has five modes of operation—three are automatic and two are manual. One of the most use­ful of the automatic modes is ID–SYNC for recording from DAT sources. This mode copies index numbers from your DAT and automatically turns them into track numbers on your CD–R.
The AES/EBU interface does not trans­mit DAT ID codes, so you must use the S/PDIF connection. To do so, simply load a blank disc and toggle the INPUT SELEC­TOR until the correct input appears—the display should recognize DAT as the source at this point. Now, cue up your DAT tape to a point about five seconds ahead of the first DAT index number you wish to record. Next, toggle the DIGITAL
SYNCHRO button until ID–SYNC ap­pears in the display. The CDR–800 will begin a short setup procedure, which takes a few seconds.
After this setup, ID–SYNC returns to the display, and SYNC flashes in red. You are now ready to begin recording. Sim­ply press the play button on your DAT recorder—when the next index number appears, the CDR–800 automatically be­gins recording, making that index num­ber track 1 on the CD. You don’t even need to press RECORD on the CDR–800. Each subsequent DAT index number au-
Audio Electronics 2/00
33
PHOTO 3: A close-up view of the Pioneer Stable-Platter mechanism used in the CDR–800. The CD must be inserted up­side down, but this mechanism greatly reduces disc vibration and dust accumu­lation on the laser pickup.
T ABLE 1: MANUFACTURER’S SPECIFICATIONS
Applicable discs: CD and CD-R Frequency response: 2Hz–20kHz Playback S/N: 110dB (EIAJ) Playback dynamic range: 97dB (EIAJ) Playback THD: 0.0027% (EIAJ) Recording S/N (analog RCA input): 90dB Recording dynamic range (analog RCA input): 90dB Recording THD (analog RCA input): 0.005% Recording S/N (S/PDIF digital input): 105dB Recording dynamic range (S/PDIF digital input): 95dB Recording THD (S/PDIF digital input): 0.003% Wow and flutter: Less than measurable limit (
±
0.001%
weighted peak) (EIAJ) Analog input impedance: 10k Analog XLR line input level: +4 or +8dBu, switchable Analog RCA line input level: 500mV RMS Analog output voltage: 2V RMS Power supply: US model: 120V AC, 60Hz; European
model: 220-230V AC, 50/60Hz Power consumption: 21W Weight: 6.2kg (13 lbs. 11 oz) Dimensions: 482mm (W) ×294mm (D) ×134mm (H)
(18
³¹₃₂″×
11
⁹₁₆″×5 ⁹₃₂
)
+ 4 hidden pages