Churches and houses of worship can share their message with a solid live band, but what happens when music playback is needed? Church CD players range from outdated stereos to faulty systems. This leaves you vulnerable to CD skips and shocks, not to mention muddy audio. Don’t you wish your church CD player could function properly? Well now, you don’t have to worry! Muzeek World now carries the best Tascam CD players around! These affordable, cost-effective devices offer music playback with modern technology.
In this post, we’ll examine four different models: the Tascam CD-200, the Tascam CD-200iL, the Tascam CD-500 and the Tascam CD-RW901MKII. Any one of these would make a great church CD player, but there are major differences between them. Let’s take a look!
Tascam CD-200 CD Player
The Tascam CD-200 is an easy to use CD player. It’s an upgrade from the famous CD-160, but remains affordable. This new player features a brand new TEAC transport, which is custom designed with a smooth loading drawer and low clamping noise. The CD-200’s internal clock has been vastly improved to offer better sound quality and decreased jitter. An included memory buffer protects your CDs from shocks and skips. Multiple audio formats are compatible with this model, including Audio CDs, MP3 CDs and Wave CDs. There’s built-in support for CD text and ID3 tags, which means the LCD display on the front panel will be able to show information like artist and track names.
Beyond the LCD display, the front panel also has a 1/4-inch headphone jack with independent level control. Monitoring is quick and convenient. RCA line-level outputs are available, as well as digital coaxial and optical S/P DIF outputs. The Tascam CD-200 also comes with a full function wireless remote control!
Tascam CD-200iL Professional CD player with 30-Pin and Lightning Docking Station
The Tascam CD-200iL is an advanced version of the previous model. First off, the major feature of this model is the retractable audio interface docking station. The dock features a 30-pin connector and a Lightning connector. What does this mean exactly? It means that you can playback music from your iPhone or iPod! That’s right, you don’t even need CDs to use the CD-200iL because it’s a CD player AND a media player! The connectors offer improved digital to analog audio conversion over the internal soundcard of the connected Apple device.
But what if you don’t have an iPhone or iPod? What if you have an Android device, or a Windows device, or another device that doesn’t work with a 30-pin or Lightning connector? Don’t fret! The Tascam CD-200iL has an analog auxiliary mini stereo jack on the front panel that allows connection of non-Apple devices with a 1/8-inch input. CD players have never been more compatible or 21st century-friendly!
Beyond that, this Tascam CD player has multiple advanced features. The TEAC CD-Drive makes use of a shockproof buffer (up to 10 seconds) that prevents audio dropouts if your CD skips. The drive supports WAV, MP3 and MP2 (yes that’s a thing) audio formats, in addition to CD text and ID3 tags. The user-friendly front panel features an LCD display and transport controls. Controls include things like pitch adjustment, repeat, folder browsing and more! Similar to the CD-200, this model comes with a wireless remote control.
Tascam CD-500 Single Rack CD Player
The Tascam CD-500 is a single rack CD player, which means that it only takes up a single unit of Rackspace. This church CD player is perfect if your rack setup is already packed full of various devices. This slot-loading player features a new transport, brushless motors and an edge-grabbing mechanism that prevents disc damage. Traditional CDs are supported, as well as CD-ROMs in MP3 and WAV audio file formats. Despite being such a slim, compact CD player, the front panel features an LCD display and a 10-key pad. The Tascam CD-500 has an RCA stereo output, in addition to optical and coaxial digital outputs. This allows you to connect this Tascam player to a variety of sound systems. You can control it with an RS-232C, a footswitch or the included wireless remote control.
Tascam CD-RW901MKII Professional CD Recorder with Playback
While the previously mentioned models are all CD players, the Tascam CD-RW901MKII is the only CD recorder. Sure, it still offers audio playback in multiple formats like the other models. But this 2RU rack mountable device is much more than that. The Tascam CD-RW901MKII features a high performance AKM codec that captures audio with a wide dynamic range to provide high quality CD recording. The left and right analog inputs have their own gain controls. As far as the digital input is concerned, it can be controlled from a digital source for premium recording levels.
There are a variety of track division functions that make recording easy. Automatic Track Division creates a track marker based on the input level. It adds a new track when the input dips below a specified level (from -24 to -72dB). Time Track Division creates a time-based track that can be set every one to 10 minutes. This method is ideal for conference recording when there’s no gap between segments. Manual Track Division allows you to manually write a new track by pressing the Record key when the CD-RW901MKII is in record mode.
The brand new TEAC transport that’s housed in this Tascam device isn’t a repackaged computer drive. In fact it was designed specifically for audio use. The tray-loading design offers a stable platform that minimizes errors while the disc is written. Updated firmware lets the transport write track markers without a gap, which makes for amazing seamless and continuous live recordings.
Of course, let’s not forget about the audio playback features of this model. The CD-RW901MKII includes functions like auto-cue, auto-ready, power-on playback, pitch control and more! It’s possible to control the transport through a P/S2 keyboard, which is sold separately. The TEAC transport was crafted specifically for this Tascam device. It can take any legal CD type, including MP3 CDs. Reliability is a cornerstone of the Tascam brand, and the CD-RW901MKII is no exception to that. A shockproof memory has been implemented to prevent skipping caused by vibration. A RAM buffer keeps audio data in memory to ensure clean playback, even if the shock or disruption lasts for up to four seconds.
Any of these Tascam models would make amazing church CD players. For more information, get in touch with us at sales@muzeekworld.com!