New Digital players join the Den stereo DAT!

Gentle reader,

Once again, thanks for taking the time to look at and read my blog. More than 32,000 visits so far!

After a LONG dry spell at the local Salvation Army, I was delighted to find several medium-to-high end brand name electronics to choose from. 

To begin, I spied this golden SONY first thinking, "What the heck is that?" Then I spied DAT on the panel in the center. "COOL!" I plugged it in, pressed the open button, and out came a tiny DAT tape cassette. Looks and works like a tiny VHS (or BETA) video cassette. Closed it, hit play and the meters showed it was working. 

It is a SONY DTC-2000ES. Called the BEST DAT machine ever made it retailed for, get this, $2800 in 1994! Easy to see why DAT never caught on with consumers. 

Recording studios loved them, however. I have been thinking about making tape recording of LPs and then transferring the music to CD on the Pioneer CD recorder but didn't want the reduced range and tape hiss. Well, this DAT will solve those problems. I found a seller on ebay selling 90 minutes sealed SONY brand DAT cassettes $25 for five and ordered a set of them.

Next up was a CARVER five disc CD player with rack handles, but oddly, no rack mounting holes. Anyway, CARVER was a fellow known for top quality home electronics and if I recall correctly he worked for Dynaco for many years. This puppy retailed for $600 in 1994 and was highly reveiwed.

Above, LUXMAN a name still revered in the high-end audio market for excellent equipment. This cassette deck also from 1994 retailed for $380. Were it a three head model, I would keep it. But since I previously found a three head JVC unit (to be seen below) it's bound for ebay as is the CARVER.

Above is what is called "The best sounding five-disc CD player ever made." Made by Nakamichi in 1998, it retailed for $1175! That's big bucks. It has already replaced my beloved Denon DCM-380. While the Nak' doesn't decode HDCD discs, the OPPO in the surround sound system does. It really does sound fantastic!

Finally, above is the SONY DAT and Nakamichi CD changer in place in the Den stereo setup. 

For the first time, I'm down to only one Denon component where once they all were. 

 

When I was telling Nancy about the changes, she was holding her lips closed. My electronic changes are a source of puzzlement to her. Well, she rarely even GOES into the den, and never plays music in the house unless from her ipod in the little stereo player I got her for that purpose. Plus, I'm not changing the living room setup. Well, no plans to anyway.

Thanks for looking,

Scott