Philips CD 100 User Manual

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EQUIPMENT PROFILE

MAGNAVOX

FD1000SL

COMPACT

DISC PLAYER

Manufacturer's Specifications

Frequency Response: 20 Hz to 20

kHz, ±0.3 dB.

Dynamic Range: Greater than 90

dB.

S/N Ratio: Greater than 90 dB (20 Hz

to 20 kHz).

Channel Separation: 86 dB (20 Hz

to 20 kHz); 90 dB at 1

kHz.

Total Harmonic Distortion Plus

Noise: Less than 0.005%.

Wow and Flutter: Unmeasurable,

quartz crystal precision.

Line Output Level: 2 V rms.

Power Consumption: 20 watts.

Dimensions: 12.6 in. (32 cm) W x

2.87 in. (7.3 cm) H x 10.51 in. (26.7

cm) D.

Weight: 11 lbs. (5 kg).

Price: $800.00.

Company Address: c/o NAP Con-

sumer Electronics Corp., P.O. Box

6950, Knoxville, Tenn.

For literature, circle No. 92

Billed as the smallest Compact Disc player in the world,

this attractively styled unit is also the lowest priced of three

models to be offered by Magnavox. Magnavox, as

probably know, is a wholly owned subsidiary of North Ameri-

can Philips. And North American Philips, in turn, is owned

by Philips of Holland, to whom must go the primary credit for

the development of the CD format, which has already be-

come an international standard. Although credit for the disc

and player is generally shared by Philips and Sony, the truth

is that Sony's primary contribution was in the area of the

error -correction systems that were ultimately adopted.

you

was Philips which began work on the digital disc idea way

back in 1969 and 10 years later showed the first working

system to the European press.

The unit I tested, in fact, bore the model number CD -100,

suggesting that it was actually a sample of the Philips model

being sold in Europe, with its power supply modified for use

in the U.S. We are told, however, that the configuration and

AUDIO/JUNE 1983

Page 2

all of the features of this model are otherwise identical to the

Magnavox FD1000SL, which will be the American designa-

tion for this truly compact Compact Disc player.

Magnavox maintains there are subtle differences in the

quality of sound reproduction between various manufactur-

ers' CD players, and they attribute this to technical differences in the way the players reproduce sound. The main

difference is in the signal -conversion process from digital

back to analog. All of the units I have tested to date (with the

exception of the Phase Linear Model 9500) use straight 16 -

bit D/A converters with steep analog filters. Some listeners

maintain that the use of a sharp cutoff filter results in consid-

erable phase shift in the 20 -kHz region; they perceive this

as detrimental to proper stereo imaging and reproduction of

transients.

The Magnavox player incorporates three techniques that

are said to provide the effectiveness of a pure 16-b t sys-

tem, but which require a simpler digital -to -analog converter

with simpler filters. First, "oversampling" is used. Th s has

the effect of reducing noise in the audio band by an addi-

tional 6 dB. The technique involves sampling the digital

signal at four times the normal rate, thereby distributing the noise over a broader spectrum. Secondly, digital filtering is

used to remove ultrasonic components while maintaining

phase linearity up to 20 kHz. Finally, noise shaping is used

to reduce noise in the audio band by an additional 7 dB

while increasing noise outside the audio band. The unwant-

ed high -frequency noise is then eliminated with simple ana-

log filters.

Unlike any of the CD players I have previously tested, the

FD1000SL is a top -loading unit. Depressing a designated

area on the see-through hinged door on the player's top

surface causes that door to pop open. The Compac: Disc is

simply placed on the exposed center spindle, and the door

is closed manually. All remaining controls and displays are

on the gently sloping front surface. A power on -off pushbut-

ton is at the extreme left. A display area labelled "Track

Program Selector" occupies the same left -to -right length of the sloped surface as does the disc -loading door on the top

surface, making for an extremely pleasing and integrated

look. When power is first applied, a bank of green LEDs,

numbered from 1

the right of the display area is then depressed, disc playing

to 15, illuminates.

If the "Play" button to

will commence from the first track and an additional row of

LEDs below the "program" LED bank will display the current

track being played. "Pause" and "Stop" buttons are located

alongside the "Play" touch button. An additional LED lights

up in the display area when the "Pause" button is activated.

Touching the "Pause" button a second time causes ,play to

resume and extinguishes the "Pause" LED.

In addition to this straightforward approach to the playing

of Compact Discs, the FD1000SL offers several otl-er op-

tions, including programming of desired selections on a

disc in any given order. Four tiny touch buttons furthe to the

right are identified as "Select," "Store," "Cancel" and "Re-

peat." Pressing the "Repeat" button causes the entire disc

to be played over and over again until the button is de-

pressed a second time or until "Stop" is depressed. While in

the repeat mode, another LED in the display area lights up

to indicate that fact. The three remaining buttons in this area

Booklet, demo disc and

cleaning cloth packed with the player.

provide the user with two different methods of program-

ming. The "Select" button, when depressed, moves the

"track" LED in the display, one track at a time, to any

desired track from 1 to 15. When the desired track you want

to hear first is indicated, touching the "Store" button places that track number in "memory." By repeating this sequence

of operations, a method referred to in the owner's manual as

"Add -In Programming," you can program in as many tracks

as you like, in any order you choose.

An alternate method of programming, called "Take -Out

Programming," is used if you want to hear most, but not all,

of the selections contained on a particular disc. In that case,

the "Select" button is used to bring the moving LED to the

track that you don't want to near, and the "Cancel" button is then touched. Upon completing this routine, the appropriate LED in the upper bank of "Track Program Selector" LEDs is

extinguished, indicating that that particular track will be

skipped when it is reached. The procedure is repeated until

all undesired tracks have been selected. If the "Play" button

is then depressed, disc play will commence and will pro-

ceed in order, from track to track, skipping only those tracks

that you have "cancelled."

The remaining two touch buttons on the sloped front

panel are "Search" buttons that are used to advance the

laser rapidly in either forward or reverse direction. Although

there is no sound heard when using the "Search" buttons, the current track being scanned at any instant by the laser pickup is indicated by an appropriate LED in the display. If

you should inadvertently hold down a forward or reverse

search button so that the laser reaches the end (or the

beginning) of the disc, an "Error" light will come on.

In this Magnavox player, the emphasis is clearly on purity

of sound reproduction and ease of programmability. Certain

features I have encountered on other CD players have been

omitted, however. For example, no time indications are

provided either as to time remaining on a disc or time into a

given track being played. No doubt some of Magnavox's

more expensive models to be offered

incorporate additional features.

in the future will

AUDIO/JUNE 1983

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"In this Magnavox player,

the emphasis is clearly

purity of sound

reproduction and ease of

programmability."

-BO

- 90

- I0

-20

- 30

SEPARATION, R TO L

SEPARATION, L TO R

100

FREQUENCY- Hz

RESPONSE

10k

Fig. 1-Frequency

response and stereo

separation.

I k

111111111111

10k 20k

0.010

11111111111

0.009

11111111111111

0008

111111111111=M111.11111111111111111fl

0.007

IMMIIIIIIIIIM11111111111111111Mu

0.006

0005

111111111111MMIIMMIIIIII

111111111111mmiisammislill

0.004

0.003

0002

0.001

11111111111

100

M1111111111.1111a11111

=111111111111111111111111111

Iliplimm111111i

111111n11111111111111111

=REGLIENCY- Hz

Fig. 2-Harmonic

distortion vs. frequency.

Measurements

A point -by -point plot of frequency response (upper curve)

and channel separation capability

for the Magnavox

FD1000SL is shown in Fig. 1. Maximum departure from flat

response in the range covered by the test disc (100 Hz to 20

kHz) was never greater than 0.2 dB, and even that deviation was noted only for the 18- and 20 -kHz test signals. Separa-

tion, represented by the lower curves in Fig. 1, ranged from

83 to 87 dB for left -to -right channel crosstalk and from 86 to 87 dB for right -to -left channel crosstalk.

Harmonic distortion versus frequency at 0 dB is shown in

Fig. 2; readings ranged from 0.002% to 0.004%. At the -10

dB level of the 1 -kHz test tone on the disc, THD rose to a still

completely insignificant 0.0085%. At -20 dB level, THD

increased somewhat further to 0.023%.

Decreasing -amplitude 1 -kHz test tones were also used to

check linearity of the playback system. Absolutely perfect

linearity was noted from 0 dB level all the way down to -60

dB. At -80 dB, linearity seemed to be off by 1.0 dB, and at

- 90 dB I read an output of - 88 dB, which may well have

been residual noise in my test setup rather than actual

departure from true signal linearity.

Signal-to-noise ratio measured 92.5 dB, unweighted, in-

creasing to 99.5 dB when an A -weighting filter was inserted

in series with the measuring instrument. At 0 dB recording

level, SMPTE IM measured 0.0056%, increasing to 0.013%

at -10 dB level. Measurements for CCIF (twin tone) IM

were 0.0010% and 0.0025% at 0 and -10 dB record levels,

respectively. De -emphasis was accurate to within 0.1 dB at

the three test frequencies of 1, 5, and 10 kHz included in the test disc.

206

Use and Listening Tests

Happily, my collection of CD records is growing by leaps

and bounds. I now own more than a dozen of these amazing

little discs, and I am pleased to report they are getting better and better, musically speaking. Someone out there must be

listening to those of us who have suggested that new mixing

techniques and approaches (or are they really "old tech-

niques" after all?) are going to be needed if the Compact Disc's potential is to be realized. Two recent acquisitions

are from RealTime Records (Miller & Kreisel Sound Corp.).

One is from their "Digital Masterpiece Series," Zoltan Rozs-

nyai conducting The Philharmonica Hungarica in selections by Brahms, Berloz, Chabrier, Rossini, Bizet, Dvorak, Dukas

and Liszt. The other, Real Hot Jazz, features jazz -band mu-

sic by the likes of Don Menza, Jack Sheldon, John Dentz

and Freddie Hubbard and their assorted musical aggrega-

tions.

If you want to know how totally thrilling digital disc

reproduction can be, drop either of these (depending upon

your musical taste) into any CD player and you'll be an

immediate convert.

Could I hear a "difference" between the sound produced

by the Magnavox unit and my own reference CD player?

Frankly, no! The new discs sounded absolutely superb

both. This is not to say that you won't be able to detect

subtle differences if you listen long enough. All I'm saying is

the CD experience is so overwhelming compared to

analog listening I've done over the years, that straining to

pick out hitherto undetectable flaws seems a pointless

cise to me.

prefer to enjoy the music-as I've never

enjoyed it before-and to thank the people at Philips (and,

yes, those at Sony, too) for bringing this miracle to us during

our lifetimes.

This much I

will say: The earliest CDs in my collection,

and those that were produced from less -than -excellent

log master tapes, point up their failings on any type of CD player, while the most recent Compact Discs sound good

on both the Magnavox and my reference player. In that

connection, the Philips unit I received for testing was mag-

nificently packaged. Included with it was a Philips Compact

Disc containing 14 cuts, eight of them pop music, the rest in

the classical domain. This disc, too, offered a superb'example of how CDs should be engineered. Magnavox would be

wise to offer their version of the player packaged just as it

was by Philips, including this magnificent sampler. As for

the Magnavox CD player, its small size, excellent design in

terms of ergonomic factors and its relatively low price make

it a sure winner.

Leonard Feldman

some

any

exer-

ana-

AUDIO/JUNE 1983