Magnavox CDB-630 CD-player Review

The moderate-price Magnavox CDB630, manufactured in Belgium by Philips, is the most feature-laden CD player we have tested. Even a sketchy description of its special capabilities and how they are used would require more space than we have available. Its front panel carries thirty-six buttons, about twice the usual number for a CD player. Nevertheless, its basic operation is, if anything, more straightforward than that of most players today, so that a user need not master more procedures than are actually needed. Moreover, the instruction manual deals with the various features in logical groupings and enough detail that anyone should be able to master them with a little practice.

Basically, the CDB630 is a conventional player with quadruple-oversampling (176.4-kHz) digital filters and dual 16-bit digital-to-analog (D/A) converters. The disc transport accommodates both standard CD’s and 3-inch discs. The front panel has a fixed-level headphone jack, and the rear apron contains separate fixed-level and variable-level analog audio outputs, a coaxial digital output, and digital control jacks for interfacing with a compatible Philips cassette recorder.

When the CDB630 is used with a connected tape deck, its Record Sync feature provides precise synchronization for dubbing, including a pause for automatic end-of-tape reverse and continued recording in the reverse direction. The Edit feature automatically fits the maximum number of complete tracks on a cassette side.

The CDB630’s operating controls are especially convenient. The play/ replay button not only initiates playing the disc, for instance, but a second touch during play returns the laser pickup to the beginning of the current track. The familiar forward and reverse track-skipping controls are marked previous and next, logical nomenclature for controls that return the pickup to the beginning of the previous track (not the current track, as most such controls do) and move it to the next track. The stop button is marked STOP/CM, referring to its added function of clearing the program memories on a second operation.

Many of the other control markings are self-explanatory, or at least similar to those on other CD players. The fast-forward and reverse scanning controls, however, marked CURSOR>> and <

The display window of the CDB630 provides considerably more information than most, without looking cluttered. Not only does it show the status of every operating mode and feature, the usual track and index numbers, and the elapsed or remaining time on track and disc, but it can show up to twelve alphanumeric characters across the top. This readout serves as an “Active Info” feature that not only describes the player’s operating status but also presents messages to guide the user and warn of incorrect operation of the controls.

The CDB630 also has the Philips FTS (Favorite Track Selection) system, which allows the user to store preferred playback sequences tor specific discs. This information remains in the player’s nonvolatile memory, so that at any later time loading a programmed disc and pressing the FTS button will play the same sequence of tracks. In fact, the CDB630 has two separate FTS mentor banks, allowing two different programs to be stored for any given disc. If eight tracks per disc are programmed, the double FTS memory will store dual programs for up to sixty discs.

A Title Memory permits the user to store titles or other information of up to twelve characters for specific discs and tracks on discs so that the titles are displayed automatically during play. Another feature of the CDB630 is a Personal Presets memory that allows the user to customize the player, storing his own preferences in respect to display brightness, starting sound level, fade-in and fade-out times (up to 20 seconds each) and the default startup playing mode (entire disc, FTS1 or FTS2 programs, or random play). The CDB630 comes with a compact wireless remote control that duplicates virtually all the front-panel controls. In addition, it has up and down volume buttons that control the player’s variable analog outputs and index-stepping buttons as well as the track and search controls. The buttons are grouped by function and identified by different sizes, shapes and colors.

The Magnavox CDB630 is finished in black with white markings. It measures 16 inches wide, 11 inches deep, and 4 inches high, and it weighs just under 9 pounds. Price: $400.

Comments

Even if you don’t need many of its special features (and probably few people will use all of them), the Magnavox CDB630 is a first-rate CD player in its own right. Having direct access to specific tracks and indexed segments (the remote control is required for the latter) is an unusual feature that could be important to some people. (We found index access to be very convenient when using some of our test discs.) Although we tried almost all of the machine’s operating features— which worked as claimed, though they were not always as easily mastered as we would have wished— we also enjoyed simply playing CD’s. The more you use the CDB630’s basic operating controls, the more comfortable and convenient it seems.

At its price, the CDB630 is certainly a good value in a CD player, offering a remarkable combination of operating features and playing performance All in all, it is an impressive product.

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