The Battalion
Section B
Wednesday. Augu»t 23,1989
Things to know about CD players
They’re not all alike, but paying a high price isn’t necessary
Cut through all the hype, and the important
things you should know about coin pact-Hiv play
ers boil down to these:
First, they aren't all created alike. But even
players that cost around $100 deliver better
sound than the vast tpajonty of vinvl disc phono
graph systems.
Second, what you get lor more bucks are
mainly more bells and whistles, some ol which
are really unnecessary fot most people
Third, for audiophiles with an ear for musical
nuances, some features found only on higher-
priced compact-disc plavers may indeed be worth
the extra money.
If you're making the transition from LP to
compact disc for the first time, even the cheapest
CD player will sound a world apart from your
phonograph — no more pops, wheezes or wow
and flutter caused by warping, deteriorating vi
nyl, damaged needles or inconsistencies in turn
table speed.
You’ll appreciate the convenience, too You
don't have to flip a compact disc to heat the
whole recording program, and the protective
plastic coating means disc care is minimal. What's
more, to the average listener an inexpensive
player will sound just a* good as a player costing
Hundreds more. That’s because the haste technol
ogy is the same.
For the average listener, players * ith list prices
of $200 to $500 will do iust fine, savs Changing
Times magazine. In that price range, vou get fea
tures that add convenience and versatility-.
Two of those stand out:
— Multidisc play: One of the hottest devel
opments in CD players is the chknger. which
plavs more than one disc automatically. You can
choose between cartridge and carousel models
The cartridge systems, in which stacked CDs
slide into the machine on a tray, usually hold
more discs than carousels — up to 10 or more —
and take up less room.
The carousel changers, basically rotating plat
ters. are easier to load and easier to use than the
cartridges if vou want to play just one tfar. It*s
also easier to replace a disc on i carousel. in some
models vou can c hange discs even while another
disc is plaving. And because the carousel’s mech
anism is simpler than the cartridge's, there may
be fewer repairs. Suggested retail prices for car
tridge and carousel plavers are about the. same
— Four times oversampling: Farlv-model CDs
scanned a given portion of a disc twice, the sec
ond time filling in any digital blanks caused In
scratches or fingerprints to cut down op skips or
dropouts. Today’s systems typically sample four
times (some eight or 16) to smooth out c^ven more
glitches. Virtually every plaver curreiltly made
has at least four times oversampling. |
Pncier plavers. particularly- those with disc
changers, may last longer than less-cexpensn e
models That's because they tend to have better-
quality circuitry and moving parts.
Higher-priced plavers are often heavier, too
— which may reflect a maker’s interest in reduc
ing the number of skips that can happen when
plavers are jarred Models with more-substantial
chassis and heavier bottom pads also help insu
late a player from vibration
Other features that are often standard in the
$200 to $.S00 range are less useful. Among those
probably not wortn paving extra for:
— Programmable plav You program selec
tions on a CD you would like to hear and in what
ffrder. Newer variations on this include shuffle
or random play or juke box. in which the CD
plaver picks the order of songs.
— Direct track access. You c an go immediately
to any point on the disc.
— Repeat lets you play a CD over and over.
— Indexing. You can use this to fast forward
to a given place in the music using index num
bers supplied with the disc
— Tnree-beam pickup. This feature splits the
laser signal into three parts instead of two. in the
ory to improve tracking
You mav want to put out the extra money for a
remote control device (the best remotes also con
trol volume). Many models add a key pad on the
chassis as well as on the remote so you can pro
gram the discs vou want to hear from either com
ponent
Bottled ships old hat,
new ones in light bulbs
TEXAS CITY (AP) — Build
ing model ships in a bottle has
been a popular pastime for hob
byists around the world — dating
back many centuries
Long hours are required to as
semble a ship by passing the parts
through the small pouring hole
of a bottle and then assembling
the vessel inside.
But whoever heard of building
a ship inside a light bulb?
After a co-worker suggested he
try such a feat 10 years ago. Nor
man Kautz has transformed his
model ship building into a very
unique hooby
Kautz. a machinist for Sterling
Chemical, built the first of his
nearly 200 ship-m-a-bottles in
1952
Since his co-worker's idea,
Kautz has made 63 of the light
bulb variety.
Creating such a ship takes
Kautz about a week, depending
on his dailv schedule. He gets the
burned-out, 400-watt sodium
mercury vapor bulbs from work
and brings them home for clean
ing. The bulbs measure 10.5-
inches long and 4.5-inches in di
ameter.
To make his ships. Kautz first
cuts out the pieces from balsa
wood and puts the ship together
without gluing it.
* Sails made of paper envekipes
are added and the entire model is
fiamted. The ship is then disas
sembled.
Next, while operating through
a hole IVb-inch in diameter — at
the end of the bulb that screws
into the socket — Kautz carefully
places the parts inside.
Using tools that he often has to
make for himself, he arranges the
pieces inside the bulh ana glues
them in placr
Because he must chip awav a
porcelain shieki covering the
opening oi the bulb. Kautz loses
about one out of every three
bulbs by accidentally breaking
them.
Many ship builders assemble
their boats outside the bottle so
that thev can be folded on hinges
to fit through the bottle’s opening
441 don’t want
a lot of hype.
I just want
something I
can count on.55
■ v-
. .
■RjJ
B.
X/mSii
Greg Rikry-lJniversity of North Carolina-Class of 1989
m-
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BUT REAL '
HEAVYWEIGHTS
WHEN RESULTS
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matter what
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