kgallen

MDS-JE530 + CDP-XE530 (+ friends!)

MDS-E12 + CDP-D12 See here:

I’ve got a CDP-XE530 so assumed the XE730 was the next model up!

I’m not aware any have adjustable brightness.

Doh. ‘Twas the ‘X’ that threw me!

I’m very much included in that!

@BearBoy I’m interested where you go/what you’re thinking on the CD players side wrt your MD machines. Keep sharing on that one. I got the CDP-XE530 along those thoughts, I see you mention XE730 above. I know nothing about the Sony CDP ranges. Maybe a new thread to muse on this?

I haven’t done anything clever it’s just all hooked up with toslink or coax and control A1ii where I can. I did make notes so will share but it’s not very exciting (we’ll not for ‘normal’ people 🤣).

Yea tell me about it! But I’m the same as you, I record so much in LP2 for non critical listening that getting a 930 would just be gluttony. Hence the 940.

We’ll I’ve used all the I/O linking that lot together (and with the PC with TOSLINK)! FILTER-STD seems just fine to me. I don’t have a front-room hifi setup, maybe it makes more sense there than with headphones. It seems to have a real time clock (which I set). I thought the TIME button might make that show when the deck was idle but it doesn’t seem to. I’ll need to read the manual! Otherwise nice - considerable weight difference compared to say the 770 which is light as a feather by comparison. The 940 has a beefier transformer and metal front panel of course.

I think I’m done now. Until the next one anyway 😆

According to the schematic the LCD module just takes in a logic power rail. There was no separate contrast voltage input (or backlight), so if there is contrast control it would be in software (there is an I2C-type serial bus to the LCD module), but I couldn't find anything in the User Manual that offered a menu option for Contrast.

It’s taken time to get in with the big boys but with some generous support from @M1JWR I think I’m finally getting there. Spot the changes (what’s in, what’s out) 🤨

Sorry I couldn't find anything in the Service Manual or the User Manual. When you say "too bright" - it looks like it's a reflective LCD. In the schematics I didn't see any backlight. So I'm not sure what you mean. Is the contrast bad so you can't read the characters? I couldn't find anything on a contrast control either though.

Correct. From here: https://theartfulanteater.com/product-category/retro/

You unwrapped it! 🤯

Well ya know… it had to be done.

😊 Well it’s blowing a gale here with driving rain, so not much of a weekend for anything else! Hope the weather is less severe where you are! Looks like I’ll be WFH again tomorrow…

Yes that’s right, a dirty TOC is one where there are changes held in RAM not yet written to disc. I think I learned about ‘super undo’ from here: https://www.minidisc.org/cloning_procedure.html It’s more of a diagnostic feature - Retry Cause Display mode - but the effect is also to make the machine think the TOC in RAM matches the one on disc. On some later/upper decks there is an Undo function in the Edit menu. I was playing with the remote to see what functions did or did not work on the 480/440. Name works but it makes the machine think the TOC is dirty so I tried the super undo key press…

Yes Auto Pause is in the Setup menu and from the remote on the 770. 👍

Whilst I’m waffling on, it seems Super Undo works on the 480. With a dirty TOC hold STOP for 10 seconds. With the RM-D15M neither M.SCAN or FADER work on the 440 or 480. 440 and 480 have Fade in and out in the Setup menu but no front panel button (like 520/530 does) so must be a remote function. CD-SYNC works on the CD and MD but I think we expected that.

Doesn’t work on the 440. I don’t have any of the top end consumer decks like you @BearBoy. I know Auto Pause is on the 520 and 530. So by remote it is also on 480 but not 440 I can find so far. E12 and E10 defo have it. Only (!) other Sony I have is a 770 (but y’all know that!). Will try when this wind and rain abates a bit and I can make a run for the house 🙃

Voilà! Result Mr Bear! 😀 A.SPACE button

Exactly! When I lived near Birmingham in the 90’s/2000’s I got my group into MD for the sound. I got a 520 like I had at home. A couple of years later we wanted a second deck and I remember checking the specs for Auto Pause and finding it missing on the decks at the time. I can’t remember what model I bought them in the end. It could have been around the time of a 440. If I recall, it will be somewhere on here, I think I found with a remote for a 520 I could enable Auto Pause on either 440 or 480 even though it wasn’t in the menu or manual for the deck. I think I’m going to try that now with this 480 in the combo…

I’ll mainly stick with my racks of MDS-E12 for normal shows. The most important feature on MD that they removed after the 530 (at least on the low end machines) is Auto Pause which I must have, which cues up the next track automatically ready to play. And yes the E12 also have vari-speed on the front panel as well as multi line display and XLR balanced outputs into my mixer. In the past when we’ve done a ‘little Christmas concert’ at a local community centre/old folk I’ve taken one of my Tascam MD-CD1 to have both MD and CD in one handy package then used the crappy amp/speakers that were there. This combo might come in nicely for situations like this. I also have some ‘rescue’ speakers it’s playing through right now - and it sounds quite good. I don’t know what the power of the amp is - not much given how little there is inside. Maybe 10W per channel. The lack of Auto Pause is an issue on both the MD and CD in this unit. I think this was probably designed for dance studios and the like.