In my youth (1986), there was the introduction of a CD player that caught my imagination. Being a Technics fan, I immediately liked it a lot. Because it was a professional player, it had features I could only dream about. Like cue-ing, fader start, jog shuttle, very fast start/stop and track select, etc.

I saw it mentioned in magazines and I knew I was never going to own one, and that I was probably never even going to get near one. It was a bit like I also thought I would never get near a Studer tape machine, let alone own one. But here we are, I have 4 Studers now.

Fast forward to 2026, and I looking at interesting stuff on a Japanese auction site. There were actually a fair amount of these players being offered, and I decided to bid on one that was a little bit cheaper than the rest that were on sale. I’m Dutch, you know. The description said it would turn on, but wouldn’t play a CD. The display worked.

So I took a gamble and my bid was accepted. From then it was about 1,5 week until it was delivered to me. Quite fast I think. Shipping (this is a heavy beast) and customs added a lot to the price, but that is to be expected when using this route to buy gear.

I forgot to say that it, being a Japanese model, it was running on 100 Volt. But I am the lucky owner of a Variac, so making 100 V out of our 230 V is no problem and the device also supports 50 Hz!

When I turned it on, the disc was moving a little bit, but not enough. But it seemed the motor was ok. I dismantled the mechanism and found 2 small SMD caps on the motor control board and one of them was bad. I replaced the caps with a ‘normal’ one and after that, the disc spun and the player could read the TOC! I also cleaned the lens and relubricated the rails for the laser pickup.

I tested some electrolytic caps on the main board and on the audio board, but they are a kind of special type that apparently doesn’t go bad over time, because I didn’t find a bad one. So I decided to leave them alone. At least for now.

I took apart the volume slider pot for the headphone, because it was crackly but after cleaning it is not crackly anymore. I also treated the jogshuttle potentiometer.

I did however have a problem with the lid switch. It needs to make good contact when the lid is closed, otherwise the player stops playing. I did some tweaking and now it is working fine.

Operating this device is a real pleasure. There is always something deeply satisfying when you are operating professional gear that is made for heavy use. The touch and feel of the buttons is extraordinary nice and it reacts instantly. I can absolutely see why it was so popular in broadcast studios.

This player has a double power supply and uses Technics Class AA technique to achieve the best sound possible.

And it sound amazing too. Apparently these dual PCM54HP-M Burr-Brown DACs are very, very good! I need to listen to my entire CD collection again thought this player……

Here are the specs:

Number of channels	2 (stereo)
Frequency response	4 ~ 20,000Hz, ±0.1dB
S/N ratio	106dB
Dynamic range	96dB
Harmonic distortion	0.0012% (1kHz, 0dB)*
Total harmonic distortion	0.0025% (1kHz)
Channel separation	106dB (1kHz)
Wow & flutter	Unmeasurable
Low-pass filter	High Resolution Digital Filter
Pitch control	±8%
Sampling frequency	44.1kHz
Error correction	Technics Super Decoding Algorithm
Decoding	16-bit linear
Type	FF1 (Fine Focus 1-beam)
Beam source	Semiconductor laser
Wavelength	780nm
Spindle motor	Brushless DD motor
System	High Speed Linear Motor Access System
Power supply	AC 220V, 50Hz (Cont. Europe); AC 240V, 50Hz (U.K.); **AC 110/127/220/240V, 50/60Hz (other)
Power consumption	32W
Output voltage	2.0V (0dB)
Output impedance	200Ω
Load impedance	20kΩ
Headphone output level	Max. 100mW (32Ω)
Dimensions (W x H x D)	430 x 168 x 380mm
Weight	14.5kg (32.0 lb)
Automatic play	Entire disc
Repeat	Entire disc, single track, programmed tracks
Program capability	Max. 20-selection random access programmability (track)
Cueing	Direct access (track, time, index). 2-speed manual search with cueing sound, track, skip, programmable music scan, auto cue
Display	Total number of tracks, total playing time, programmed tracks, track in play, elapsed track time, total elapsed time, remaining track time, total remaining playing time, index number, preset start point (time), output level attenuation
Control keys	Play, pause, stop, open, clear, memory, recall, repeat, 10 number, key, index, rocking/search, skip, auto-space, auto-cue (on/off), dial search (on/off), search speed (slow/fast), pitch control (on/off), time mode, time recall, (remote control only: search, music scan, digital attenuator)