Utterly reliable. Clear, clean sound. Great value for money.

Remote is cramped and useless; cannot access Time or programming functions with it, button placement is not intuitive and is non-user-friendly. Slight mechanical powerline hum, fixed myself.

Bought to replace an 11-year old Sony CDP-50 that finally died. Immediately noticed much improved detail, especially in the treble. Have had only slight troubles reading music CD-R's burned on PCs, but this was resolved by replacing the CD burner! Other than that, zero complaints. I'm glad I grabbed it when I saw it. Unit had a 60Hz transformer hum that was solved by loosening the transformer mounting screws and inserting foam rubber as isolators. Now it's totally silent.

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDP-50

Sound

Piece of crap

Had unit mothballed for 4 years. Took it out and it started skipping and skipping and skipping and found out from Marantz repair it is laser which costs more than the damn machine. Sound quality is good. Build quality sucks. I'll never buy another Marantz product.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom CD 750 = Good Teac Cd = 1 bit not so good but at least it worked

Considerably good sound at its price range

Work quality isn't that superior

I bought this player in 1997 and it was priced at 200$.

For few months it worked out fine, but then it started skipping tracks. It was repaired, broke again after a week and then it was replaced by a new unit.

New unit sounded a bit brighter, but now it skips tracks again, oddly it plays cd-r:s well but not the original cd:s.

I heard that the player mechanism from Philips had wrong kind of lubrication, thus the original problems with the tracks. This same applies to Micromega Stage 1, which has the same engine (but priced at 500$).

So this unit sounds fine, but it lasts only a couple of years.

good sound.

skipped tracks at the beggining and now doesn't read any CD any more.
parts like the laser eye costs nearly as the product because it comes integrally with the PCB!!!

I'm looking for a place to buy the laser eye outside ISRAEL
If anyone knows where can I buy it please help.

I've had this guy in my current system for over a year. Considerable improvement in sound to the Sony Discman I was previously using. Marantz and its parent company, Philips, has been known to produce quality CD players and I would have to say that the CD-46 is the best CD player you can purchase new for under $200, even without the digital out.

I purchased this unit about one year ago mainly because of the price. It is probably the least expensive hi-fi CD player one can find in the market. The remaining components of my system are Marantz PM57 integrated amp and Sound Dynamics 300 ti speakers. I found the player has a warm sound and very pleasing midband. The bottom is slightly lack of power and control. (this may be due to other units in the system and the room) The high end is a little bit harsh some times. I am very satisfied with the overall performance. Strongly recommend to those who are on budget!

I purchased the CD 48 several weeks ago to replace my old Denon DCD 700 that I bought in 1988. The Denon was constantly in the shop and I finally just pitched it. So far, the Marantz CD 48 is an exceptional player for the money. The sound and build quality appear far superior to the Denon. I would recommend highly for those looking for a single play unit in the $225 to $250 range.

I bought Marantz CD-48 (CD-46 with coaxial digital output according to Pavel from Latvia) and I think it's a good player for it's price. I also use digital out to connect it to Sony MiniDisc deck and it works perfectly with it. About sound: What I needed and wanted.

For your information: As the author of this article has no e-mail, this review was sent by one of his friends -Paul de Ruiter, also an enthousiastic Tjoeb '98 owner-. Paul -and his father, which is also -sorry- an enthousiastic Tjoeb '98 owner- are also working on a report and will submit their experience with this cd-player later this month on www.hifi-notes.com and maybe on www.audioreview.com. Anyway, here we go!
A real taste of high-end CD playback at an entry-level price

Get TJOEB'ed! with AH! CD-38 Tjoeb '98

- By Kees van de Wiel -

The CD player-producing community is a busy one. It seems locked in a perpetual battle against the clock. The crystal oscillator clock, that is, and its jitter-related problems. Furthermore there's the battle for bits, the ongoing quest for still more resolution.

Question: if jitter is by now reduced to levels of near inaudibility and dynamic range figures of 120 dB or better are the norm, why is it that a lot of CD players of the less than exotic variety still sound mediocre? And by mediocre I mean their inability to portray timbres accurately, their inability to sufficiently sustain the natural decay of notes of real instruments and their lack of bloom on orchestral and vocal cres-cendo's. In other words: what good is a cd-player that throws a soundstage beyond the next building with rock-solid precision if that same player is unable to get the timbre of, say, a Steinway concert grand right; or the distinct character of a Martin flat-top? Even some three thousand dollar players manage to get this wrong.

Tail

The reason? Many cd player companies spend lots of r&d and loads of money on sophisticated transports, clever re-clocking devices and state-of-the-art d/a converters. But, as so often, the venom is in the tail. The final and vital link of the digital to analog process, i.e. the analog output stage, is often no more than an design afterthought. Not seldom cheap opamps are employed, or undersized powersupplies. So, if you want your digital done right you're looking at a second mortgage, right? Not necessarily. There is hope for musiclovers/audiophiles on a tight(er) budget. This is where Tjoeb (phonetic Dutch for tube) comes in. This Netherlands-based CD tweaking-team had the nerve to take the lid off of one of Marantz's basement bargains, the CD 38, and play around with its innards.

Peeking inside they recognised the CD 38's potential for upgradebility. First, they got rid of the cheap standard opamp and put in a decent Burr Brown 2604 to take care of the current-to-voltage conversion. Then the Dutch boys decided to seriously upgrade the analog output stage with a pair of ECC 88 double triodes. Dramatically improving headroom and drive capability of the output section. En passant getting rid of the nasty feedback that comes standard with regular opamp devices.

Headroom

Of course, a tube section like this requires its own dedicated power supply; apart from the one that was already there and is now relegated to transport duty only. Luckily there's enough room under the 38's lid to accomodate the additional transformer - a beefy toroidal type - and the filter capacitors.

Says tweak-team member Frank van Duyvenvoorde: "We wanted to improve on an entry-level CD player without going overboard. It still had to be affordable. Our objective was to improve the CD 38 in key areas that we feel are often over-looked. Its tube output stage, for example, gives the Tjoeb tremendous headroom so it can effortlessly drive a pre-amp's input". Indeed so. The Tjoeb, with its $ 399.00 price-tag, may be way below the five-hundred dollar barrier, that doesn't prevent the turbo-charged Marantz from rocketing straight into audiophile airspace.

Musical motives

My principal listening is done with an analog/all-tube/electrostatic(*) rig and it was in this elevated company that the Tjoeb made its entrance. On the face of it only a lunatic would contemplate mating a 400 dollar CD player with electronics and speakers in excess of twenty five grand. Untill you actually hook it up. After months of intensive listening I can confidently say that the Tjoeb is the most satisfying CD machine I've had in my setup so far. It proved audibly superior to a Musical Fidelity, two Meridian transport/DAC combos and even a Proceed CDP.

I make no excuses for still using analog playback as my main reference; quite the contrary. Not so much for the usual audiophile-related reasons like low-end impact and extension, treble air, soundstaging, detail and all that, but simply out of musical motives. I believe natural timbres, pitch definition, midband expressiveness and an allround coherence of the musical message to be of paramount importance to enjoying music in the home. In this respect the Tjoeb proved to be a most satisfying experience.

Honest, minimal recordings - and I don't mean those hyped close-miked artificial affairs that invalidate so many 'high-end' demonstrations - had a presence, warmth and palpability through the Tjoeb that was fairly close to good analog play-back, but was simply astounding for a CD machine at this price-point.

Pianissimo

Just listen to "Horowitz" on DG (419 045-2) by the late piano virtuoso and marvel at the sound the old lion squeezes out of a Steinway concert grand. That sound was, and still is, like nobody else's sound. The Tjoeb treats the maestro's blooming colors with respect without adding that nasty, glassy character that still plagues too many CD-players. The delicious pianissimo that Horowitz commands, his resonating, fearsome bass-lines in the Chopin scherzo; it's all there.

Micro-dynamics and sustained notes are largely left intact, enabling me to extend my listening sessions into the wee hours at low volume levels without sacrificing color or subtle dynamic shadings. A clue to the player's outstanding harmonic integrity. It must, I reckon, be attributed to the Tjoeb's high-quality ouput stage. After all, a lot of CD players can sound exciting at high play-back levels but often seem dull and lifeless at low settings. This is where analog still rules supreme.

Breathtaking

Feel an uncontrollable need to plumb the depths of "dynamic range"? Then, please turn to the most powerful instrument of them all: the human voice. And marvel at Zimmerman's latest: "Bob Dylan Live 1966". A long overdue document of his famous '66 concert tour of Britain. Most of the acoustic part in this double-CD set was recorded with a state-of-the-art Nagra taken from a mono(!) line feed by the film crew. This recording makes nonsense of the claims that Dylan can't sing but merely mumbles. Good God, is this performance dynamic! (it has a fair amount of hall ambiance to boot). Dylans dynamic inflexions are rendered with astonishing ease. Pain, rage and sheer sarcasm are hurled at the mike. Interweaved with the most awe-inspiring harmonica-playing you'll ever hear (Just Like a Woman is a prime example). Not once did the Tjoeb surrender on crescendos or - here you have it - did the soundstage cave in. This player's midband is pure triode.

After my time with the Tjoeb I've come to value what prolonged listening had already showed me: the real virtue of this little machine is that you can play disc after disc without ever being bothered by listening fatigue. No matter what you throw at it. For me that is the real acid test in digital playback. Had the Tjoeb cost $ 1,500.00 it would have been excellent value for money. At $ 399.00 it's a down-right sensation!

(*) Associated equipment:
- Denon DP-100M reference turntable with Denon arm
- Shure V15VxMR phono cartridge
- Jadis JP 30 tube preamp
- Papworth M100 tubed monoblock poweramps
- Quad ESL 63 speakers
- Siltech cable used throughout
- Nagra mono open reel recorder

Recently I bought CD-48 (CD-46 plus digital output ).With Yamaha RXV595 and Tannoy Mercury M4 it sounds quite well . The price $230 is reasonable.