When I was looking for a used Theta transport a couple of years ago, Ed Deitemeyer (sp?...then with Theta customer service, now I believe at C-J) recommended I go for a Pearl over a Data, mostly because the Philips mechanism had been discontinued and they could no longer get parts to repair the things. Now I just hope my Pearl holds out OK, since Pioneer has discontinued making the Stable Platter mechanism used in it...you can't win. Some of the most impressively-built drawer-type mechanisms I've read about were in transports from Wadia and Esoteric, or you could look into a good top-loader.
Upgrade for brittle CD transports?
Having recently endured the breaking for no apparent reason of the brittle plastic teeth used to drive the tray in my Philips equipped, $2,000 list CD transport, now I'm wondering. Do any CD player or transport manufacturers tout their upgrade of off-the-shelf CD mechanisms with quality parts, like nylon or delrin gears? Or, does anyone go so far as to make their own mechanisms, ala Nakamichi cassette decks in their heydey? It's got to get better than this.
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