hi all-
with a generous grant from the CPB, i have bought 7 Compact Flash
recorders to use as field remote kits for our community radio station.

having set these up now, i have a few impressions. but here's the
kits:
PMD670 w/ reporter's bag
2 RB1100 NiCad batt packs
1GB CF card
AT825 stereo mic
Senn HD280 headphones
THAT-2 phone interface

in short, the PMD670 seems pretty darn nice. with a 1 GB CF disk, i
get 8:53 hours of recording MP2 (256kbs, 44.1KHZ) or about 1.5 hours
uncompressed .wav

what attracted me was the no moving parts aspect. the PMD670 is a
second generation engine compared to the 680/690 and it now uses run
of the mill CF cards and has a much longer battery life (about 4 hours
with phantom on and the LCD backlite). i can configure these and lock
the settings so all a user has to do is powerup, hit record, and they
are recording.

the units are lightweight, to the point of feeling cheap but there is
only circuitry inside, no motors, transport mechanisms, etc.

7 of 7 were 100% functional when delivered. in talking to the Marantz
service dept (i had questions on the battery charging algorithm) they
have only had one returned and when that one was examined, it had been
modified to accept a different battery and service figured someone
applied the wrong voltage. BTW, they accepted the return with the
reason "it didn't work" and didn't find out about the mods until after
the customer got their money back... sound familiar to anyone grin?

-dan

Heres my experience with MARANTZ PRO equipment

(cut & paste from another board)

Bought a CDR 615 failed went back failed went back failed.
They replaced it with a lesser CDR 640 and I found out that the 615 had
design faults!
(at this time I bought a PMD601 which failed in 3 weeks and was replaced)
The CDR 640 lasted 5 months and failed with cutting out one channel.
During 2002 it went back and forth 5 times (6 weeks each time) and each time
returned with the same fault.
(During this time I bought another 615 2nd hand which failed- cutting out on
one channel)
While the 640 was going back and forth I sent the pmd601 for a PAID FOR
repair because it was cutting out on one channel...£86 to replace a £9 pre
amp)
Finally they agreed to replace the 640 in Jan 2003 and refunded me my £86
after the pre amp on the pmd601 failed and I told them I had no more faith
in their service department. (and after threatening legal action) I waited
for a replacement 640 and waited and waited and in August 2003 it finally
died completely and I asked for a loan unit while they were "waiting for a
replacement". They sent the (much) lesser cdr630 which...............
are you keeping up?

which........failed on one channel!!!!

Because they had given me this loan machine, and before I noticed the
failure, I allowed them "another chance" at repairing the cdr640.

They sent it back to me and the carriage company which had picked it up had
taken it out of its protective and ORIGINAL box with the polystyrene ends
which suspend the unit, and placed it into a ordinary cardboard box wrapped
in brown paper!!!! It was all smashed up. I wrote to them and asked why all
these suspicious things had happened.....no reasonable answer....they then
tried to make out that the parcel company had refused their claim because I
had "signed to say I received the parcel in good condition" and offered once
again to repair the machine.

I told them I was taking legal action against them and they refused to
answer me. I dont know what to do with all these pieces of JUNK lying around
me!!

I actiually thought that by buying Pro and paying THOUSANDS for gear that
would buy me reliability, but all my consumer stuff lasts 7-10 years and
longer and NOTHING from Marantz lasted any longer than 5 months at any one
time, apart from the (replacement)pmd601 which lasted 2 years, but then it
was only used FIVE times in those 2 years!!!!

So thats 4 machines spanning 3 generations of cd recorder all failed with
the same faults and 2 portable dcc`s failing and then repairs failing
afterwards.

So the equipment is useless and the service department is even worse.

They LOOK nice thats about all.....oh and when they DO work the sound is
superb but its not been a happy event for me and I have NEVER had trouble
like this, on such a scale, from any other company in almost 30 years!



"Daniel Houg" wrote in message
om...
hi all-
with a generous grant from the CPB, i have bought 7 Compact Flash
recorders to use as field remote kits for our community radio station.

having set these up now, i have a few impressions. but here's the
kits:
PMD670 w/ reporter's bag
2 RB1100 NiCad batt packs
1GB CF card
AT825 stereo mic
Senn HD280 headphones
THAT-2 phone interface

in short, the PMD670 seems pretty darn nice. with a 1 GB CF disk, i
get 8:53 hours of recording MP2 (256kbs, 44.1KHZ) or about 1.5 hours
uncompressed .wav

what attracted me was the no moving parts aspect. the PMD670 is a
second generation engine compared to the 680/690 and it now uses run
of the mill CF cards and has a much longer battery life (about 4 hours
with phantom on and the LCD backlite). i can configure these and lock
the settings so all a user has to do is powerup, hit record, and they
are recording.

the units are lightweight, to the point of feeling cheap but there is
only circuitry inside, no motors, transport mechanisms, etc.

7 of 7 were 100% functional when delivered. in talking to the Marantz
service dept (i had questions on the battery charging algorithm) they
have only had one returned and when that one was examined, it had been
modified to accept a different battery and service figured someone
applied the wrong voltage. BTW, they accepted the return with the
reason "it didn't work" and didn't find out about the mods until after
the customer got their money back... sound familiar to anyone grin?

-dan