I realize this is not a 'great' cd player, but it was an awesome cd player. I picked it up back in 92 I think. It died the other day. What I loved about it is coming to roost as I try to find a replacement.

I have better equipment in other parts of the house, but this was the cd player that was the center of the "House of Sound" - speakers in Music Room, Office, Garage, Basement, Yard. On a summer day my home is like protected by a force field of music - and with the type of speakers deployed, I was able to push back against all intruders if necessary.

I liked its capacity...12 discs. Enough not to worry about anytime soon, but where I was involved in switching out discs at least one time over the weekend, and once more throughout the week...so I was in charge of what I was listening too.

Now looking, it seems multi-players come in two varieties - 5 or six (mostly 5) or 300+. Neither appeal to me.

Fortunately I have some equipment down in the basenment, so I have dusted off a cheap cd player I gave my wife when we first met (a Technics SL PD5) which I always disliked.
1. When it gets finishes the last disc it repeats...so I tend to let it roll unless I am not in the middle of something.
2. 5 discs capacity, so problem 1 really gets to me.
3. Worse!!! It has no memory. If I turn it off in the middle of a disc, when I start again, it starts that disc at the beginning. This just drives me nuts!!!!

So I am on e-bay trying to find a replcaement which is not too expensive...I am interested in replacing the DM802 outright...but I am also intrigued by the 18 disc version Pioneer had...and If I could get my hands on a single disc cartridge for it all the better.

Other, decent knockabout players you'd recommend, I'd be interested.

Goodbye DM802 - you served many a party, campfire, and house chores nobly. May the four winds take you home.

I realize this is not a carousel or changer, but it is one popular killer universal disc player for only $169...new.
Excellent performance for CD, DVD, SACD, DVD-A, and HDCD discs...

Prepare to be impressed by the OPPO DV-980H universal DVD player. Continuing the OPPO tradition of exceptional audio/video performance and great value, the DV-980H delivers a stunning picture and immersing sound for today's home theaters. Advanced video upconversion technology brings standard definition DVDs to life with 1080p "Full HD" clarity. Precision rendering from Super Audio CD, DVD-Audio, HDCD and regular CD creates enveloping acoustics with high fidelity. Complemented with 7.1-channel surround audio, high resolution picture slide show and a convenient USB 2.0 port, the DV-980H helps you rediscover the treasures in your home theater.

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv980h

I had a 16 year old vintage SonyES CD player finally die, and I attempted to replace it with a similiar or same unit from eBay. But eBay is a pain, and I couldn't depend on finding another Sony that was in good shape that would last me a while. I also realized I would be paying almost the same amount that this new Oppo unit goes for new. So I gave up on eBay and I bought this Oppo player instead. It does so much more than my very old CD player. It also is comparable to the much more expensive Denon 3910 universal player, and does more than the Pioneer 563A.
The Oppo DV980-H offers excellent performance and I'm only using for audio at this point!
I would urge anyone to read the reviews on this one before you buy anything.

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv980h/dv980h_review.asp

Dude, there you go...messing me up

I have, in my TV room, a Pioneer DV 563A Universal, which is in need of an upgrade...I just don't like how it does not handle all the DVD-A codec's well (I never got around to the firmware upgrade), and it has an annoying habit of not always picking up the SACD layer automatically on the hybrids. The fact that it does not handle HDCD boils me as well...

I might have to get this, as well as find my replacement for the DM802. Thanks! - D

I'm afraid I had bad luck with the Oppo. My unit chopped off the first fraction of a second of every track during CD audio playback. When I wrote to the company about the problem, they confirmed the phenomenon was not unique to my player -- they all apparently do it. Needless to say, I returned it and ended up buying a Denon 3920 (great player, but slow as molasses mechanically).

Now, Steve's post above makes me wonder...I can't believe he'd be so happy with his Oppo as a CD player if it had the same flaw mine did. Am I correct, Steve, that yours doesn't truncate the first notes of songs?

The Oppo's get great accolades in the audio/video press. Never heard a complaint about the CD playback but I guess most people buy for video.

Check the AVS Forums to see if the newer models still have that problem.

Sorry to hear this. I have not heard or read this before.
No problem with mine.

I'm glad to hear it's not a problem with all Oppos...though I'm troubled the company led me to believe it was. Maybe, as John intimated, it's something they corrected later. Oh well, I'm happy with the Denon at this point.

There is one known problem with the Oppo (which Oppo admits to), it doesn't like dvdr's burned on stand alone VCR style set top recorders. It's said to have problems with motion jitter on those discs. I've seen that particular artifact on other players & it's quite irritating. It's said to fine with pc authored burns, though.

If you don't think you'll ever be playing set top burned discs, I've heard nothing else but good about the Oppos. Unfortunately for me, I have a large collection of classic films that were dubbed on a set top.

In somewhat related news...

Oppo is in early development of its Blu-ray player...

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/ ... phase/C157

Hopefully it will be region free hackable like the other Oppo's (or Blu-ray's equivalent).