Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

Tweeter in New Hampshire doesn't carry any Sony equipment whatsoever.
Lechmere in the Mall of New Hampshire has both the CDP-102 and CDP-302.

--PSW

Here are some sources not on the above list:

1 - The Music Forum in Fitchburg (John Fitch H'way, same mall as Rich's) had
the Luxman (list $600) for $450 a month or so ago. Also Sanyo but forget that
one.

2 - Lechmere's carries Sony, Technics, Sharp and maybe a few more.

3 - Service Merchandise had Magnavox, has Sanyo and Akai.

4 - The Video Revolution in Concord (across from the railroad station) will
be getting in Pioneer and one Onkyo model within the next few weeks.

The Tweeter store in Hyannis, MA, has also dropped all Sony equipment.
They claim that Sony does not quote the same price to all stores, and
that repairs are a pain.

When talking to a salesman at the store in Framingham he said they had
dropped Sony becuase of the way they were being treated.  Since they service
what they sell they are very sensitive to getting parts etc.  Sony was no
servicing their needs adequately.  In addition when the D5 came out and
Jordan Marsh was selling them for over list Tweeter could not get any from
Sony ... guess they did not sell enough for Sony to bother.  Sony is getting
to be like Shure cartridges, pretty soon you'll be able to buy there stuff
anywhere.

These incidents with Sony are very consistent with what I hear from dealers.
In general most Sony dealers I've talked to are extremely unhappy with the
treatment they get from Sony.  

The most common complaint is in the area of Order processing.
dealers are not informed in advance of what they are getting, when they are 
getting it, how much they are getting, and (surprisingly) much they will be 
charged for it.  If you've ever been involved in a retail business you'd know 
what problems this creates.  If every distributor worked like this, it would be 
impossible to stay in business.

Now in spite of this I've decided on a Sony CDP-302 (it's the top-rated CD
player in Consumer Reports).  I also have a Sony receiver, and a Sony VCR.
I'm currently waiting for any one of several stores to get one in, and they
are ALL saying that Sony keeps giving them the runaround as to when they'll
be in and what they'll cost (which means that can't quote ME a price).

Now it should be noted here that when I Sony, I'm talking really about the
american distributor and not the company that makes the stuff.   Every problem
I've ever heard about Sony involves the american distributor.   It's my
belief that Sony products are excellent products and that's why I buy them.

	db

Video Revolution in Concord, MA (across from train station) currently has
Pioneer 7010, 5010, the Toshiba VR-22 (just arrived 02-Aug), and they claim
they will be getting some sort of Onkyo CD player.

The Pioneer 7010 was $379 and looked like a great buy to be. IR remote,
full programmability, direct track access, index point access, repeat modes,
etc. It has analog filtering. The Pioneer 9010 is essentially the same but
with oversampling and digital filtering. Trouble is no one has the 9010.
It doesn't even appear on any dealer price lists yet. It appears in the
June Consumer Reports issue however, and is also mentioned often in the
July (June?) Hi Fidelity article. Does anyone know anything else about the
availability of the Pioneer 9010?

The Toshiba is an interesting unit, mentioned in the same Hi Fidelity article.
It sells for $399 at Video Revolution. What is so unusual is that is has
two CD drawers. It is essentially two CD players in one box. This is great
if you like to listen to long pieces that do not fit on one CD. The programming
possibilities should be great here, but unfortunately Toshiba fell short
(in my opinion) and did the least with the double drawer feature rather than
the most.

Here is the disappointing way that the thing works: You can play either drawer
(called A and B) as normal CD players; there is a PLAY and OPEN/CLOSE button
for each. You can program up to 15 tracks per disk. The player will only
play the tracks in increasing numerical order, however. If you put the
REPEAT switch 'on', the player will go from drawer A to B and from B to A
when the appropriate drawer finishes. i.e. you can't put in a double album,
have it play A, then B, then stop. REPEAT mode must be on, so you get
A,B,A,B endlessly until you turn it off. You can't intermix programming
from one drawer to the next, i.e. you can't say "play A2, B4, A6,...".

Furthermore, there is no remote, and there is no access to index points (the
display will, however, indicate index points when it comes to them). If
you like to play 'disk jockey' this may be for you, because you can open
one drawer while the other is playing. Sort of like a DJ with two turntables.
You can have continuous music: no waiting to change the disk. Might be good
for parties. I myself would have liked to see a simple "play A, then B, then
stop" feature, random programming, and inter-disc programming. Some sort
of index access would have been nice too. The deck does have direct track
access via 10 button keypad though. Still, for $399, not bad....

I"ve been trying to find someplace that had the Magnavox FD3040. Does
anyone know where it can be found? Does anyone have comments/opinions
about this player?

I, too am looking for someplace that sells the Maganavox units.  I was very
impressed on my recent vacation with a friends Maganavox 4020, ($199.95 at
Target stores, sort of like Bradlees) in Minneapolis.  I saw the 4010 on special
sale, $168.99 at Service Merchandise, Speen St. in Framingham/Natick, but
wasn't quite as impressed.  Does anybody know the difference between the
4010 and the 4020?  I'd like to see/hear the 4030, too!