Sherwood CDC-5030R CD Changer Review

The Sherwood CDC-5030R is a five-disc carousel-type CD changer. Though as compact as many single-disc players, it provides a full complement of operating and programming features. Its disc tray emerges from the upper portion of the front panel at a touch on the adjacent open/close button. Above the tray is a row of small buttons for selecting the disc to be played. Four of the five disc wells are accessible at any time to load or unload a disc without disturbing playback of the fifth disc, which is in the playing position at the rear of the tray.

At the left end of the lower portion of the panel are the pushbutton power switch and a slide switch for setting up unattended operation of the player with an external power-line timer. At the right end of the panel are a stereo headphone jack and its adjacent volume knob.

The display window is below the disc tray, at the middle of the panel. In addition to the track-number indication, it shows the elapsed time on the current track and can be switched to show the remaining time on that track or on the disc. A “music calendar” shows the numbers of the remaining (unplayed) tracks on the current disc or in a programmed sequence. Five small circles along the bottom of the display show the numbers of the disc positions occupied by CD’s. Words appear as required to show the status of such special features as repeat or random play of one or all discs.

Despite its relatively simple, uncluttered front panel, the CDC-5030R has all the usual programming features as well as a few others not found on most CD players. In normal (unprogrammed) operation, it plays all loaded discs automatically in their numerical sequence, but it also enables quick direct access to any track of any disc. There are large buttons for play/ pause and for stepping through the tracks on the current disc in either direction (with fast scanning when the button is held in for a couple of seconds). Other modes include repeat of a track, a disc, or all the discs in the tray. The random mode plays tracks or discs in random order, and intro-scan plays the first 10 seconds of each track on a selected disc or on every loaded disc.

The CDC-5030R can be programmed to play as many as thirty-two selections from any or all of the five discs in any desired sequence. A handy variation of this feature enables the user to delete as many as thirty-two selections from the playback sequence. A front-panel button reviews the programmed sequence. And to facilitate taping, the CDC-5030R can select tracks (up to a limit of thirty-two) that will fit best onto each side of a standard cassette.

The CDC-5030R has been designed to communicate with compatible Sherwood equipment through the Digi-Link jacks on its rear apron that can be connected to a Sherwood Digi-Link receiver or amplifier, which then controls the CD changer. And with a Sherwood Digi-Link cassette deck, it is possible to start recording from the CDC-5030R by pressing a single button. The back panel contains only the analog audio output jacks and a pair of Digi-Link jacks.

The changer comes with a wireless remote control that duplicates most of its front-panel controls and provides at least two that are not on the player itself: an A-B repeat mode and direct access to index markers on a CD (if there are any). It also has up/down volume buttons that are functional for some other Sherwood CD players but not the CDC-5030R.

The CDC-5030R’s performance was typical of current CD players in most respects, which is to say it was generally very good. The player was fairly sensitive to impacts, such as moderate finger tapping on its top or sides, which caused momentary mistracking. The volume through the headphone jack was excellent.

Overall operation of the changer was straightforward, thanks to its very explicit instruction manual, which takes you step by step through each of its operating modes. Although its programming procedures are not like those of most other CD players we have used and can be confusing at first, a careful study of the instructions and some hands-on practice will pay rich dividends in your enjoyment of the CDC-5030R’s many operating features. It is a very practical, if somewhat unconventional, CD changer that delivers good performance and overall value at a modest price.

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