And you thought CD players were CD players. It's true, a unit sold in 1996 still spins a little 5-inch silver disc, turning little pits on its surface into high fidelity music, but today you get a lot more features: things like faceplates so big they drop down to insert the CD; multi-color displays; remote control; and multiple equalizer settings.
There has been an on-going debate at CA&E about what the first upgrade to a factory system should be. Since the issue is arguable we thought we'd tackle a system a section at a time with head units first. We wanted to see just how much better, if any, a CD player that retailed for $300 only five years ago, compares with one for the same money today. It sounds like a pretty even match, but it's actually tougher for the 2001 head unit to match up because the $300 in 1996 is really only worth about $267, today, thanks to inflation.
Nonetheless, we kind of knew that things were better today than they were half a decade ago, so we rounded up 10 CD players from companies all over the place with only one requirement: The CD player had to retail for no more than $300. That seems to be a pretty good price point, with lots of CD players available. It's not the bottom of the CD player barrel, and it's certainly not something that would require multiple paychecks to purchase.
The first research we did was to look for info about CD players that were sold in 1996. We called the manufacturers and got old owner's manuals as well as cruising through old issues of Car Audio and Electronics. We dug up some good information.
In 1996, CD players were mostly all buttons, no knobs, and it was rare to find one with a multi-color display. They typically had just bass and treble adjustments and only two pairs of RCA outputs. Nearly all had slots cut into their faceplates to load the CD as well as RCA outputs with high impedances and low output voltages like .5 volts. On-board power for these units was about 25 watts through four channels.
In 2001, it's not a whole new ball game, but it's nearly a new ballpark. For example, the Blaupunkt Key Largo has a multi-color display with a visual that is synchronized to the music, CD and radio station naming, and an adjustable bass boost. The Rockford Fosgate RFX9100 has a dual display and a remote control; the entire chassis is copper-plated (something that's normally found only on big dollar decks). The Sony's display is so big it doesn't have any buttons and the Panasonic is incredible at night.
One of the best features, for me, is that more than half of the CD players have nice big knobs to adjust the volume. With buttons, no matter how fast you can hammer at them, you just can't crank it up fast enough when one of your favorite songs comes on. You also can't get it quiet fast enough when there's a blue and white in your mirror.
Displays on the 2001 units are way better than ever before. Sony takes this to the extreme with their buttonless L3 "blackout" style display that looks like nothing is there when the unit is turned off. Others like Pioneer, JVC, Audiovox and Lanzar have true multi-color displays. In '96 multi-color was switching between green and amber buttons. This stuff was only on cream puff CD players just three or four years ago. Now you get it for Krispy Kreem prices!
Another feature that's beginning to creep up is finish. While basic black will always be cool, today the finish to get is silver. The industrial look is in and an aluminum or brushed aluminum face like on the Rockford Fosgate, BOSS or the JVC is a standout. Same goes for bright buttons. Alpine made a visual trademark with its glowing green buttons in the late '80s. The CDM-7857 we have features those same green buttons. Alpine has also added a cool alien blue color on some of their other units.