Musical Fidelity PAN/CDT

Short description

In the meantime (due to documents no longer available) legendary CD player of the British HiFi manufacturer, which is characterized not only by its minimalism taken to the extreme, but especially by its tube output amplifier with two single-ended triodes in class-A circuitry; according to rumor, Musical Fidelity was the first company to bring a CD player with tube amplifier to the market.

The laser unit and all the digital parts are from Sanyo, while the amplifier unit - a design by Tim de Paravicini, who also designed the A1 - was developed by Musical Fidelity and manufactured in Asia. The cabinet (designed by the design studio Pentagram) is from the same series as the A1 (but with a two-piece top plate) and was made in Germany.

The appliance was designed as a top loader with a manually operated flap, and the features were reduced to the bare essentials: There was no remote control, the only controls available are play/pause, stop, skip forward/backward and a memory button (for storing your own sequence of tracks) along with a simple display of the current track number.

The version of the player intended for the German market was called 'Pan', while the unit was sold as 'CDT' in the rest of the world. The first version (with a completely black case) had a plastic lid with integrated puck, while a second series (glass lid, separate puck) came both in black and with a chrome front matching the 'David' and the later 'Final Edition'; the technology of the later model does not differ from that of the first series.

Dates

General

• Manufacturer: Musical Fidelity
• Model: Pan (Germany), CDT (International)
• Years of manufacture: 1992 - ?
• Made in: Great Britain, China, Germany
• Colour: Black and black/chrome
• Remote control: No
• Power consumption: approx. 20 W
• Dimensions: 408 x 75 x 250 mm (WxHxD)
• Weight: approx. 4.2 kg
• Original price approx.: 1800 DM

Connections

• Number of inputs: 0
• Number of outputs: 1
  • Line (Cinch, Fixed)

Technical Data

• Frequency response: 20-20,000 Hz
• Signal to noise ratio: 90 dB
• Channel separation: 65 dB
• CD text: No
• MP3 Support: No
• Pitch control: No
• Auto play: No
• Shuffle: No
• Title programming: Yes (limited)
• Repeat: No
• Plays CD-R/CD-RW/HDCD: Yes/Yes/No

Special Features

• Tube output stage with 2x ECC88
• Laser unit Sanyo SF-90 6/7
• Top loader with manually operated flap

Remarks

Other models of the same series:

Pictures

Reviews

• As with all Musical Fidelity devices of this series with Class A technology, it is worthwhile to let the player warm up thoroughly (i.e. about 30 minutes to 1 hour ).

The power supply reacts quite sensitively to polarity reversal; if in doubt, test it by turning the plug. Technically and mechanically the player is reasonably robust, as long as you don't damage the somewhat unstable plastic parts; laser units (also with complete slide mechanics) are still occasionally available, tubes at any time.

• Between DAC and output stage sits a transformer with unknown electrical data, which is not to be procured any more. If a used player has the specific defect that one or both channels only start after a longer warm-up time or when pressure is applied to the transformer, it is probably advisable to refrain from buying it.
• Mackern.de read Hifi Musical Fidelity Pan

Links

• Musical Fidelity (manufacturer)
• Pictures of the laser unit swap, exterior and interior of the unit (Korean site)
• Test report of the English magazine "Gramophone" from 1992, starting on p. 107
• Technically very versed report of a specialist workshop on the restoration of a specimen, with more in-depth technical details
• Mackern.de read Hifi Musical Fidelity Pan