My first real jump into high-end audio CD players was the Cambridge D500SE. That was almost 10 years ago. It worked fine for almost 3 months, then had no output on the right channel. That is, until I was going to bring it back to my dealer, and it began playing again. He told me it wasn't the first player he'd seen this with, so he asked me to bring it in. I did, and the problem reappeared when he hooked it up for a listen. He had a new in the box player waiting for me when I walked in.
The second player worked for about a month, then developed the same problem. Same scenario, he gave me another machine.
I opened the box of this third player when I got home to take it out, and the drawer would not come out, but I could hear it trying. So, I gave it a gentle tug, and it jumped to the side as it popped out. Hit CLOSE, and the drawer was so misaligned that it ended up about 1/8" to the right of where it should have been. Called him up, and let him know I was done with Cambridge CD players for now, and we agreed on me taking a similarly priced rack instead.
I understand the next generation (C540/C640) players were infinitely more reliable than the D300/D500 series. I also bought a Music Hall MMF25 when they first came out, and it provided over 3 years of flawless operation. Then again, I've seen players with another zero in their pricetag fail right out of the box or anytime after that.
I don't want to say that it's just Cambridge or whatever brand of CD player being made over there, it's the shoddy workmanship in general of these components. In October, I bought one of those 3 packs of General Electric cordless phones/answering machine at Circuit City. My 2 year old daughter dropped one on a hardwood floor, and it shattered. OK, 1 down. And, this past week, a second unit of the three just up and died. Now, I'm left with one of the three phones I originally purchased, and am left wondering why I paid another $50 or so for the 3 pack.
Growing up in the time when you pretty much expected the phone you had to last a lifetime, I must say the increasingly short lifespan of the phones being produced in the past decade (dovetails with the rise of manufacturers shifting their production to China) is enough to make me question what direction we've gone down with this low price at whatever cost paradigm. Yes, it was more difficult to buy my first real good cordless phone, a made in Japan Toshiba, way back for $199, but I expect to get 2 - 3 solid years out of this type of product. I've almost reached the point where I'm willing to pay triple the price to have the thing last me. The ironic thing is that there are now no such products available. Well, at least now I know why the warranty on the current phone pack was only 90 days...
The second player worked for about a month, then developed the same problem. Same scenario, he gave me another machine.
I opened the box of this third player when I got home to take it out, and the drawer would not come out, but I could hear it trying. So, I gave it a gentle tug, and it jumped to the side as it popped out. Hit CLOSE, and the drawer was so misaligned that it ended up about 1/8" to the right of where it should have been. Called him up, and let him know I was done with Cambridge CD players for now, and we agreed on me taking a similarly priced rack instead.
I understand the next generation (C540/C640) players were infinitely more reliable than the D300/D500 series. I also bought a Music Hall MMF25 when they first came out, and it provided over 3 years of flawless operation. Then again, I've seen players with another zero in their pricetag fail right out of the box or anytime after that.
I don't want to say that it's just Cambridge or whatever brand of CD player being made over there, it's the shoddy workmanship in general of these components. In October, I bought one of those 3 packs of General Electric cordless phones/answering machine at Circuit City. My 2 year old daughter dropped one on a hardwood floor, and it shattered. OK, 1 down. And, this past week, a second unit of the three just up and died. Now, I'm left with one of the three phones I originally purchased, and am left wondering why I paid another $50 or so for the 3 pack.
Growing up in the time when you pretty much expected the phone you had to last a lifetime, I must say the increasingly short lifespan of the phones being produced in the past decade (dovetails with the rise of manufacturers shifting their production to China) is enough to make me question what direction we've gone down with this low price at whatever cost paradigm. Yes, it was more difficult to buy my first real good cordless phone, a made in Japan Toshiba, way back for $199, but I expect to get 2 - 3 solid years out of this type of product. I've almost reached the point where I'm willing to pay triple the price to have the thing last me. The ironic thing is that there are now no such products available. Well, at least now I know why the warranty on the current phone pack was only 90 days...