by ·0 Comments

Many audio formats have come and gone over the years with some of them being better than others. Music on physical formats, particularly vinyl, have been increasing in popularity year over year. In addition to vinyl records, I personally have been adding to my CD collection. In order to actually play CDs I had to buy a CD player (or two) because I have either gotten rid of the players I had or they failed. To date, I have a total of three CD players. Two Sony 5 disc changes and a Sharp DX-200 single disc player. These units all needed some amount of effort in order to get them back into shape.

Not content with just CD and vinyl, I decided it was time to get into one of the few formats I had never owned or even used before. Minidisc. As described by Wikipedia, Minidisc is an erasable magneto-optical disc format that allows users to record sound either in real time or, using specific equipment, transfer data using a USB connection. The discs can be reused like a cassette but unlike a cassette they are digital and provide near CD quality. Minidisc uses a proprietary, lossy compression system that allows it to fix 60-80 minutes of audio onto a single disc. Unlike CD+/-R, Minidiscs can be modified, on the player, after the fact with text info, track arrangement and even editing of where tracks are split. All in, the Minidisc format feels incredibly ahead of its time even today. There is no other format that is remotely close to what Minidisc can do outside of sitting at a computer and fiddling in software. While it is true that Minidisc’s features are superseded by music software like Apple’s Music or Spotify there is a real and undeniable charm to the format that makes it fun to use even today. Later iterations of the Minidisc format provided additional capabilities which you can read about at https://www.minidisc.wiki//technology/start.

Minidisc recorders and players come in a number of form factors including portal players that are barely larger than the discs themselves (aside from thickness) to full HiFi component sized units. While the HiFi component size is my preference there are few that support NetMD, or a USB connection for interfacing with a computer. Many portal players, even earlier models, support NetMD for quick transfer for music from a computer to the Minidisc.

The player I picked up is a Sony MDS-JE500. This model, from 1997, has issues with its loading mechanism that causes it to continuously attempt to eject the disc even after ejecting the disc. A known and common problem, this unit will need to have some microswitches replaced in the near future. I picked this model because it comes an era when Sony was producing devices with my favorite design language. This device is able to record both analog and digital directly to Minidisc and allows for manually setting analog recording levels. Overall a really nice and functional device.

Minidisc, despite being so feature rich, ultimately failed for numerous reasons including high initial cost and the rise in digital formats and players like the iPod. In addition to this, commercially licensed music outside of Sony properties was far and few between. Even today you will not find many Minidiscs and those that you do find fetch a high price.

If you are interested in learning more or getting into the format I highly recommend taking a peek at https://www.minidisc.wiki/. This community run wiki provides a growing collection of articles related to the Minidisc format including where to buy devices and minidiscs, device features and even repair information.

Minidisc is not a format I expect to find a lot of prerecorded music for but I am enjoying transferring my vinyl records to minidisc or creating custom mixes. It’s true there are more modern ways to do the same thing, including just skipping the process entirely and creating playlists in Spotify, it is still an interesting departure from the norm and, most of all, is fun.

by ·0 Comments

In this post, I thought it would be fun to revisit my home audio journey and walk through how things have changed over the years to where they are now. For as long as I can remember I’ve had an interest in A/V gear but audio gear and I have a history that goes back a bit further. When I was younger, I would read up on the latest devices and formats and just soak up as much information as I could. When I could I would, using what we had around or I had access to, spend hours recording to tapes, dubbing tapes, and listening to whatever we had. Over the years I’ve upgraded my stuff but never really getting too far beyond entry-level equipment. This hasn’t lessened my enjoyment of it all in the least though.

As I was growing up, got a job, and eventually had cash to spend I would save it for various pieces of gear to add into my own setup. Being a teen living in a small rural area miles from many electronics stores and it being before online shopping was a thing my choices were rather limited. I didn’t let this stop me from putting together a fun system. At the time most big box stores had a much more robust electronics section. K-mart sold audio components as did Radio Shack.

I don’t actually remember what my very first system consisted of but it was probably something we picked up at a garage sale to get me going. I know it was an inexpensive, all-in-one system with a radio and tape deck. I also remember that it had an AUX input. This AUX input is what I hooked my first component up to. A Sharp DX-200 CD player.

Sharp DX-200 CD Player.
Sharp DX-200 CD Player

This CD player served me well for many many years before ultimately succumbing to a small plumbing mishap while sitting in storage (it also needed a new belt). However, it wasn’t long before I knew that the next piece I needed in my setup was a new receiver to replace the original…unit. For this, I remember spending a lot of time looking at various flyers for big electronics stores and researching what was available at the time. After a while, I settled on a Kenwood KR-A4060.

Kenwood KR-A4060
Kenwood KR-A4060

This thing was, honestly, amazing at the time. AM-FM receiver with phono, CD, and tape input with monitoring (this will be important later). This also served me well for many years until I gave it to someone to use in their new place. Procuring it was a bit of a chore because it required a two-hour drive to pick up and GPS wasn’t a thing yet. It’s amazing we ever found anything back then.

At this point, this is where things get a bit fuzzy. I don’t know when I got new speakers but it had to have been quickly after picking up the receiver. Optimus STS-1000 speakers from Radio Shack were not the best speakers ever made but perfectly adequate (and more importantly, large).

STS-1000 Speakers
STS-1000 Speakers

I held onto these speakers until got married and was living in an apartment that wouldn’t have appreciated them the same way I did.

After the speakers came the graphic EQ. An Optimus 31-2025, also from Radio Shack (do you see a trend here? It’s because Radio Shack was close). This rebranded Realistic 31-2020 (but also under the RCA brand) graphic EQ was pretty neat and it only worked because the receiver had tape monitoring. Using tape monitoring I was able to send any audio to the EQ, modify it and then “monitor” it. This meant the changes made by the EQ were applied to all of the inputs of the receiver.

Optimus 31-2025
Optimus 31-2025 Graphic EQ

This is a piece that was just a lot of fun because of all the bouncing lights. Its demise came after buying my first full A/V receiver which didn’t have the tape monitoring trick.

The Sony CDP-CE215 5 disc changer was most likely next in the chain. To be honest I don’t remember when I picked this up or even where. This was a pretty basic 5 disc changer, even for the time, but served me well for many years until I offered it up to someone so they could use it in their new house. If I remember correctly, it was one of the first Sony models that came with the jog shuttle wheel making it easy to quickly jump to the desired track.

The Sony CDP-CD215 5 disc changer
Sony CDP-CD215

Next in the audio stack, and definitely a late addition that should probably have never happened was a Sherwood DD-4030C

Sherwood DD-4030C

This was another Radio Shack pick-up that, because tapes were already on their way out, was a very cheap clearance item that I couldn’t say no to. Of all the things I’ve sold this is the one I regret the most. Mostly because it was so feature complete and such a smooth performer. Everywhere I see this being sold it either looks to be in bad shape or is twice as much as I paid for it new. That said, I did finally manage to find one on eBay and was recently able to fix it up and get it in working order! In a future post I may go through some of what I did to get it working again.

Somewhere between all of those, I picked up an Optimus PRO SW-12 subwoofer. To this day I can’t remember what I used to power it since it was passive but it created a lot of boom, more than a kid my age had any right having. It too was sold after getting married and living in an apartment.

This setup treated me well for a number of years. It was definitely all low end but was a great introduction to the world of hifi gear and gave me a place to grow from. Anyway, I think that does it for a “post 1” and in my next post I’ll look back on the home theater stuff that later replaced most of this equipment.