I have a 1990 (then top of the line) JVC CD player which I love. It is a 6 and 1 changer (magazine holds 6 along with a single slide out). Am I losing out on big sound connected to my my 2 year old home theater Onkyo system being the age of the cd player along with only RCA jacks? I am also looking to probably buy a newer HDMI Yamaha or Denon AV receiver. Do you think it is time to change the cd player too? It actually plays cd-r too.
I'm confused. You have a two year old Onkyo HT system but you are considering a new AV receiver? You're considering this because the Onkyo doesn't have HDMI connections? Is that it?
You are not missing out on anything with your old CD player if you aren't listening for the qualities a new and better CD player could bring to the system. Many times you have to be shown those advantages and improvements by actually hearing them in place of what you had but even then you must have some idea what you are hearing before it sinks in.
Many times the qualities of a better source are simply swamped by inadequate set up and you never really know what you just bought. If you have a system that must fit into a particular location and set up in compromised, then set up is probably one of the things you should address before spending any money.
If you expect a large change in frequency response with increases in bass and treble, you probably won't find much to like in a new player. But CD players have improved in many ways in the last ten years. Go listen.
Jan: Yes the Onkyo is only two years old, but it was one of those theater in a box (but at least it was Onkyo's top one at the time) and I had a few problems with it which since been repaired by Onkyo themselves (good thing for warranties) because the first people I brought it to was Onkyo's affiliated repair shop which didn't fix the problem the first time. The sound is just ok and I still feel that maybe the receiver is not functioning at its full or rightful capacity. Onkyo replaced two of the boards in there. Any way I was still just wondering if there is a big difference in cd players of today compared to mine that is 18 years old. I love my music and I hear everything when it comes to certain sounds.
Yes Tom, things have changed. DAC decices have evolved into very sophisticated devices, far beyond the one in your player. Whereas 1bit mash players were once the catsass, 64 bit pocessors feeding multiplexed converters are the norm. Advancement in materials and availability of fareastern componants made without the financial constraints of responsible manufacturing processes and environmental concience have made most resources available en mass.
The standard Phillips and Sony transports are still there, albeit modified to individual tastes, with a few independant builders offering pretty good options at a price derived from esotericism and selectivity.
1-bit MASH was never the catsass, more like the cat's piss...sorry...
Fact is Tom, it doesn't matter whether or not the new stuff is better. If you really love your JVC and it's working fine, then why change anything? You love it, so keep enjoying it. The chances are that the DAC section in your JVC was probably pretty well put together because they would have focussed on that section in those days (since this was where they tried to make the differences).
Now, if you were worried that your JVC was on its way out (incidentally the mechanism was meant to die in 1998 so it's well past its due date), then that would be a different issue. In the HiFi fraternity disc changers are frowned upon because - contrary to your experince - they tend to be unreliable. Furthermore, the advent of cheap memory means that people are ripping their CDs to disc based hardware - either their home PC or iPods or something like that, which means they can store far more than just 6 CDs at one time. So it's unusual to find disc changers nowadays.
Yes Frank I do like the 6 change magazine plus the one slide out which I use the most and it has all the features as well. The JVC was definitely put well togetgher back then and I still enjoy it. My whole point was that even though I think it sounds good still I was just wondering if todays cd players sound better being I never had a new one connected to my system. Seems like the old one is still a keeper I guess.