First I will start with the gripe. No keyboard input. Why buy a remote keyboard from Kenwood? Instead, Kenwood should have created a plug for a standard computer keyboard. Putting the names in through the remote sucks.
I picked one up for 380.00 Canadian. (last one left, clearing up the stock)

The seamless play between CD's in continuous mode is great. Transport noise? Turn up your stereo and it seems to solve the problem (lol).

Some people don't like the look. Aluminum is slick. Enough said.

Besides these minor gripes. I would have to say that the unit rocks. It is basically two CD players in one case. Sweet.

The only improvement I forsee that Kenwood should have made is a keyboard input, optional lighted interior, and a support for the top of the CD's so that they don't feel so flimsy when you put them in.

Price: ****
Style: *****
Quality: ****
Sound: *****

4.5 stars?

Hi Kids.
Kenwood's MSRP on this baby is $500-600. I just got mine today from Onecall for $375. Everything arrived in good shape and it works! :] The price from Onecall is good...only $30 more than the (fairly low) price I paid for the Sony CDP-CX240 which it *might* replace.

I'll give my first impressions and then a follow up review after much more use.

***Like:

· 2 CD transports. This is the real deal. In most play modes, you can set the unit to "continuous play". This will load a new disc in each transport to provide seemless playback between discs. This is will make a lot of people happy. It can also play 2 CDs simultaneously through the 2 sets of outputs (not that I'll ever use that though.)

· 2 displays, one for each transport. Not really a benefit for most people, but I'm a sucker for stuff like this.

· Size. This is probably the smallest 200 disc changer I've seen. It is nearly 2 inches shorter (height-wise) than my Sony and comparable in size to my receiver, though this unit is hella-deep.

· Non-sucky text capabilities. You can name all discs *and* tracks. Discs get 25 characters. Tracks get 16 characters. I hope this is enough. Still, a great improvement over the Sony. Plus, the names will scroll if they are longer than the display. However, they don't scroll smoothly (they should!!).

· Striking looks. It looks cool. It'd look better if it was black...but silver will do, I guess.

***Dislike:

- The Carousel Is A Jerk. It spins and stops abruptly. It wouldn't be an issue
except that it makes a (fairly loud) pop when it stops. It may be a bit hard on the discs, too. Too me this makes the unit feel 'cheap'.

- School-In-Summertime Jog Dial. First of all, it is *way* to small. It is impossible to spin it fast enough to keep the carousel from stopping (and popping) repeatedly while you are selecting a new disc. It is almost easier
to select discs via the num pad on the remote. A true shame.

- The Why? Remote Control. This has got to be one of the worst remote controls I've ever used. Why? All buttons are equal in size/label and laid out in an unintuitive, unimaginative matrix. I don't get it. Fortunately, this thing can
sit in a drawer and collect dust; I've got a Philips Pronto (you should get one, too).

- Loud-meister. This might be the thing that does this unit in, in my eyes. When the disc transport loads/unloads a disc, there is a whole variety of noises that you hear, and they are not quiet. The seamless play features seem pointless if you have to hear 10-15 seconds of noise from the unit, while another disc is loading into the other transport. I'm going to put the unit behind glass, in a case, and *I* hope that this will take care of it.

- No keyboard input. No keyboard input!?! Shame on them! Shame!

- No light behind the discs. It's dark in there. For me, a glaring omission.

- Disc load area is on the smaller than it should be. Minor gripe.

***Conclusion:
Kenwood's site (and every other review on the web) says that you can "Play Exchange: 199 Discs". To me, this says that I load and unload 199 of the 200 discs while a disc is playing. It's common CD changer terminology, right? Yet, I can't find anything about it in the manual and the unit stops when you open the hatch. I'll be pretty pissed if this claim is false (it was a selling point).

Only time will tell if I become smittened by this unit. First impressions are kind of ho-hum. I was expecting to be blown away.

This CD player is excellent when connected with the Kenwood 2080 reciever. I just bought a Keyboard to enter in text and tends to work just great. The shuffle mode is incrediable with the ability to listen to music for years without hearing a single song twice. Great Choice.

I bought a display model of the 2280M for $320 Canadian, which is $80 less than I'd have had to pay for the 324. Aside from the cumbersome title typing (with practice I can now title an average CD, with proper capitalization,in under 5 minutes), this player really rocks. The unit looks great, and is not too huge. The best part about this changer is that you can take disks out, put them back in, and it still remebers all the data for them. Some people have compained about the noise, but I have not found this to be a significant problem. Some people have not gotten the play exchange to work, but I have, and it works fine.
My greatest complaint about this machine is that there is no simple way to play just 1 CD. By default the machine will go on to the next CD when it is finished one. You need to use a program, shuffle mode, or assign a unique style to a CD and use Style Mode in order to do this. I found this especially anoying because I like to listen to a CD as I fall asleep, and have it stop when the album is over.

Seamless playback, CD-Text, large capasity, digital out put, very compatable with Kenwood VR-2080/2090/3080/3090/3100 receivers.

There is an audible noise when exchanging CDs, lack of keyboard imput (although you can buy one from kenwood), small shuttle nob.

I bought this CD player as an upgrade from my Kenwood CD-2260M. The 2280M has all the same features as its less expensive brother, but it adds the second transport mechanism for playing two CDs at once (if you have a multi-room receiver) and seamless playback of consecutive CDs. I most enjoy the seamless playback when I use the "random" modes. My beef with most 200 disc players is the time between songs when you put the player in random. With the CD-2080M this problem is totally eliminated. I can put 200 discs (or selected discs) on random with no break between songs. A truly exceptional feature.

The sound quality is also quite good. I have a Kenwood VR-2080 receiver (which is an aesthetic match to the CD player and looks quite impressive), and I have the digital out connected to the receiver from the CD player. With good speakers, the sound quality is outstanding. Analog playback is also well above par. One beef I do have is that to listen to the CD-2280M in "continous play" mode (this is the mode the unit has to be in for seamless playback between CDs or songs on random), you have to use the analog outputs. The digial out will only play CDs from transport A. Of course if you don't use a digital output this isn't an issue, but I find it moderately annoying to have to change the receiver's setting every time I want continous play. (Then again, I am a stickler for listening to everything in digital as much as possible.) The digital out also allows you to play DTS encoded CDs provided you have a DTS decoding receiver. (I do have one and DTS 5.1 channel CDs are truly amazing.)

Another large plus is the unit's CD-Text abilities. While some CDs already have CD-Text on them, which the CD player can automatically detect, such as those by Sony music, with most CDs you will have to manually imput CD title and track information. If you have a matching Kenwood receiver, its remote will display the CD title and track info! I love that feature because I can search on the remote and not the CD player for the song/CD I want. Unfortunately, the absence of a keyboard imput means you have to use the boring, semetrically-layed out remote that Kenwood supplies, or you can buy an Infra-Red keyboard for $90 on Kenwood's website. (I purchased the keyboard as soon as it came out when it was being offered for $40. It was a good price for it then.)

In conclusion, out of the 3 200 disc CD players that I have owned, this is by far the most outstanding, but also the most expensive. I did buy it refurbished for $300. If anyone wants to know where, feel free to e-mail me. At $300, I thought this was a great deal. I would especially recomend this CD player to someone who owns a matching Kenwood receiver. If you don't own one, I could see how the silver stainless look could look out of place. Personally, I like the look. Hope this helps.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood VR-2260M, Sony CD-210 200 Disc Changer.