Technics 1st generation cd player
$800 in 1983 and surely the worlds first pitch control on a cd player. Nice looking and a fair weight, draw is smooth and there's a tinted window so you can watch your discs spin. TOC read is almost instant, even if general use is touch and go at times. Also has a remote control, sadly mine is missing.
96db dynamic range
90db channel separation
0.003% distortion @ 1Khz
Technics own 16bit dac (AN6806)
6% +/- pitch
I really enjoy working on these beasts (The SL-P8) I have found that no two units i pick up have the same issue. I recently restored the one i had grown up with in my fathers stereto system and found it to be the best sounding player , taking me back to my childhood as this was the first player ever brought into our house, purchased by my dad in October 1983, for roughly $869.99 I still have the receipt. I can say even though completely restored, new capacitors , diode etc. it still is very quirky. But once it plays it goes all day. I even made a fan pair to sit on top the unit to pull out the heat, as it gets very hot inside these if you let them on for a long period of time. But this IS the best ever I have seen.. Doesnt compare to my Sanyo DAD8 or the Hitachi DA-800's I have (one black and one silver) I recently acquired an SL-P10 , none working but it will be soon. Thanks for posting your SL-P8.
ReplyDeleteHi Adam, thanks for your comment, $870 in 1983, that's some serious money! This particular player came from a boot fair years ago, I saw the pitch control and simply had to have it. I still cant get over the fact this vintage player has a pitch control !!!
DeleteI bought a silver SL-P8 in 1984 at the Marine Corps Exchange in Iwakuni, Japan. A nice Yen rate allowed me to pay a good deal less than $870! I hate tape hiss. Dolby was not good enough. CDs sounded so much better than ANY tape! I play violin and viola, and it is easier to tune the cd player to my instrument than vice versa, so the tempo control was a must have feature! I paid a great deal more money to get it. Other excellent players without it were much cheaper. I wore my player out! I still have my first CD discs though.
ReplyDeleteI just restored my silver SL-P8. It was purchased for $800+ in 1983-4 and I still have most of the sample discs which came with the player.
ReplyDeleteIt's working again after a simple fix, the laser pickup belt wasn't gripping and a little belt conditioner fixed that. Took care of the loader belt while open and then replaced all the LEDs since some had gone bad, but I may go back in to replace the pause LED, since the new one is too bright.
I did love looking around inside there. My favorite part was the spindle motor with the 4 flat-coil layout on the board. I think that looks really cool! I didn't take a picture, and can't find one on the net.
Did you restore the disc clamp pads? Mine don't look as good as your and I used the belt restore on the rubber and will see if that helps. I'd like to replace both the top and bottom pads if there's a good part to use but I don't know what to use.
I nearly destroyed my headphones finding out that jack isn't working correctly!
I just fired up my old black SL-P8, original owner. The CD tray kept opening and closing and worse, it only wanted to play the first few tracks of any CD. By track 6 or 7 I could hear clicking noises, presumably as the laser was trying to read. I had replaced the two small belts some 15 years ago but I started there. Belts looked fine but I cleaned them anyway. The problem ended up being the laser was catching as it moved along its two rails. After some light oil and working it back/forth a few times I was now moving smoothly. Compared to replacing cassette deck belts, this was easy to get at and assess the problem. As for the tray opening and but not staying open, I think there may be an adjustment I could make or a dirty switch that senses the end of the trays travel, but it's not a big deal because it doesn't happen every time and if you hold the tray it will stay open.
ReplyDeleteI love this player, especially the rare pitch control feature (although its little red LED went out years ago). I still have the remote and the Telarc classical sampler CD that came with the deck. Remember the "index" feature where you could jump to certain points within a track? This early generation has it, but after a few years disc makers all but dropped programming indexes on their discs. Everybody listens to MP3's these days but audiophiles know CD's sound better- they may not be analog for the purists but they are not squashed to bits either. I'm going to have to part with my SL-P8 though because I've been selling off my CD collection that's been taking up too much space.
Steve, 3/11/2021
Pls what eur number is the remote controll, thanks
ReplyDelete