Makes great copies of analog material. Best I have seen on any MD recorder.

None.

I feel that the Pioneer Elite MJ-17D is the best MD recorder for the money.It puts the Sony and all the other MD recorders to shame. build quality is exellent and it really is a beautiful piece of equipment. If you are thinking about getting into MD this is the one to go with. 5 stars all around.

Similar Products Used:

Sony MDS-510

I first bought this deck and then brought it back for a refund due to it's high price. I just couldnt justify spending $800 on a 9lb deck with little Japanese knobs. Compared to the cd recorder pioneer put out in their elite series, whoever designed this deck should be put back into the mail room! That said, I did buy it again when they blew it out for $399! Now at that price I could live with the drawbacks. The audio quality is very good. The overload circuit when recording is much better than the Sony JB-920: you can go into the 'red' more without distortion on This Pioneer than on the JB-920, which has a very narrow 'distortion' threshold in the red zone. The bad part is when you use the Digital Noise reduction on something other than a cassette-you get about a second of 'straight' sound before the nr kicks in. That gets recorded onto the md. This sort of kills the effect of killing the noise in the first place. The only way I've seen around this is to splice some tape hiss at the beginning of a recording to 'set' the nr into action, and then after recording-to edit out the first few seconds of the song.....pain in the a**. Pioneer should have used a buffer for the nr that holds it's setting for a few seconds before it resets itself!! The other thing I've found is that this deck does Not like generic Sony Blank md's: 'MDW 74's". It takes forever reading the toc and after some hours of recording, I have come up with 'disc error' that totally lost all of my hours of recording!!!! I took it into servicing and they found nothing wrong....go figure. But overall the quality of the recordings are very good to excellent. Worth the price if you can get it under $400.

CD quality recordings

None

This is an absolutely awesome MD player. i have a Carver CD player that is no slouch and i have to say that recordings i have made from the Carver to a portable Sony MD player sound even better than the original CD itself. since it is impossible for a recording to sound better than the original, this in itself speaks volumes about the Elite's quality. the sound is so warm, full and detailed. i could not believe that i was listening to recordings. in fact since i really enjoy the sound of this MD player, i have opted to play my mini discs instead of my CD player when i have copies. and the fact that i only paid $$159 for it only makes it better! felt like i stole it. since this purchase, i'm considering an Elite receiver when it comes time to retire my HK AVR70. i've been very impressed with the Elite quality and aesthetics. all first rate.

Beautiful sound,excellent design and construction and killer looks..

Honestly None..

Ok,Yes I have a fondness for the Elite line of Pioneer Products..Simply put,they offer outstanding Audiophile grade sound and looks.And allow serious audiophiles the chance to afford products that are several notches above the competion..That said,the Elite MD player is a great unit..Music recorded using the digital in jacks was just outstanding,and a improvement over my Sony...Also,using the analog inputs produced similar results due to the advanced DSP processing Pioneer uses as well as there own Legato Link Conversion circuits..Home Theater Magazine Tested 7 MD players in there Sept 98 issue...The Pioneer Elite model tested exceptionally well and was the hands down favorite of many..Also,it produces the smoothest and warmest sound compared to other similar high-end models..I.E Sonys ES line..Simply put,this is a must have for home recording buffs,and comes mighty close to CD quality performance!!..Shop around,you can find this unit priced between 399 and 599,it originally sold for 800...Honestly folks,the Elite line of components includes some exceptional technology and looks that really are a value!!.I use to have many different components from the likes of Marantz,SonyES,Dennon,AMC,and though these companies still make great stuff,I feel that dollar for dollar as well as looks,the Elite line wins!

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite Reciever, Elite Cd player,Elite tape deck,Elite DVD player,Sony MD