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Nakamichi CD500 Head Unit


gizze
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I was bidding on a Becker Indianapolis unit on German Ebay and then found someone selling the CD500 in Japan who would ship over here and only £350 delivered (£599 over here), so I bought the Nak.............. and then won the Becker too!!

So as awesome as the Nakamichi is I am selling it on, as I paid too much for the Indianapolis and will loose too much selling it.

The specs of the Nakamichi are below, only head units I have heard that sound better are the F1's, Nakamichis own CD700 and the McIntosh MX406.

Here are the tech specs, what I would say is the head unit has a true 47wpc, so an amp is not needed, this has some real bite and goes very loud on its own. It is very open sounding but has a warm midrange so you can crank it up nice and loud and it never sounds shrill.

It has a dedicated sub out, so add a small sub and you have an awesome sounding system that looks nice and stock.

This comes with the bmw 40pin connector and aerial adapter, so ready to pug and play. Obviously with a VW/Audi car swaooing the 12v switched and permenant over will be enough to make it plug and play.

This made the Alpine 9887 I had in there for a few days sound like a bag of spanners, it is at such a different level sound wise you can't compare.

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High-Precision CD Drive Mechanism with 3-Beam Laser Pickup

Great sound begins here. Benefiting from Nakamichi’s extensive know-how and expertise in mechanical engineering, the drive mechanism employed in the CD-400/CD-500 not only provides exceptional disc rotation stability, but also makes use of a unique anti-vibration suspension, thus preventing any external shocks from affecting the laser pickups data recovery. The laser itself employs a 3-beam system that provides exceptional pickup accuracy from conventional CD’s, or the latest CD-R and CD-RW

recordable media.

24-bit D/A Converters For The Highest Fidelity, Regardless of Media

The fidelity of CD playback is largely determined by the quality of the digital-to-analog conversion process. That’s why the CD-400/CD-500 was designed using the most advanced 24-bit DAC available today. The extraordinary resolution possible from this DAC brings in-car fidelity far closer towards perfection. Not only will vocals and instruments be more separate and clear, but also each musician’s position will easily be determined within the wide and open sound field created! This is also the case for the playback of user-created media such as CD-R and CD-RW.

Preamplifier Circuitry That Rivals What’s Found In Home Audio Components

The high-performance digital converters are complemented by equally sophisticated analog circuitry. In particular, the preamplifier deserves attention for its use of the highest-grade component parts possible, something not usually associated with car audio product. Exceptional parts chosen solely for their sonic characteristics ensure unsurpassed audio performance - in fact, the circuit board layout presented a challenge due to size limitations and the number of component parts required to achieve the desired sound quality! A highly regulated and stable DC-DC bi-polar power supply insures the unit’s preamplifier circuitry always has ample voltage to ensure the faithful reproduction of the compact discs tremendous dynamic range regardless of the demand placed on the car’s electrical system.

4-Channel Power Amplifier Provides Exceptional Headroom

A low-noise, low-distortion power amplifier with exceptional dynamic output is employed in both the CD-400 and CD-500 units. This amplifier is capable reproducing program material with a pure and natural sound quality not usually associated with car audio products. With 47 watts available to each of the four channels, there is ample power to drive most speaker systems to high sound pressure levels while maintaining a sufficient dynamic headroom. Also, the entire power amplifier circuitry itself is user-defeatable, so signal purity is maintained when an external amplification system is used.

Attractive Industrial Design And Front Panel Layout

Acclaimed around the world, Nakamichi products are always as beautiful to look at, as they are to listen to! Both the CD-400 and CD-500 feature a highly ergonomic front panel layout that is quick to learn and easy to use. All frequently used controls are easily accessed due to a highly intelligent layout and spacing design. Finished in matte-black, these simple and understated units blend into virtually any dashboard. Several combinations of panel illumination provide an unprecedented level of customization to the vehicles interior and factory dash lighting scheme. There’s even a variable contrast level control to choose the intensity and improve the legibility of the display readout. Should the user desire a darkened interior, the display and illumination are defeatable for total blackout.

Other Design Features

Several useful features and technologies are employed in the CD-400 and CD-500 that further enhance its performance, operation and system integration capabilities.

# An advanced PLL frequency synthesis tuner section developed through extensive on-road testing assures the AM/FM tuner will deliver superior sound quality even in difficult reception areas. The turner section provides 12 AM and 18 FM presets as well as a Preset Scan, Auto Seek, Manual Tune and an Auto Memory feature.

# Two (L/R) non-fade type preamp outputs for connection to a mono or stereo subwoofer system are provided. The subwoofer output level is variable and once set, remains constant and independent of the front and rear speaker system’s fader control allowing for easy system balancing. The “off” position defeats the entire subwoofer system. (A subwoofer amplifier and

low-pass filter that are optionally available must be used)

# Four discrete channels with 4-Volt output are available to drive any external power amplifier without concern for cable length or increased noise. When external amplifiers are used the power amplifier can be deactivated to avoid any audio signal degradation.

# Independent 3-band (Bass/Midrange/Treble) tone controls providing 11dB of boost or cut at 100Hz, 1kHz and 10kHz that can be used for compensation of car acoustic abnormalities or the user’s sonic preferences.

# One pair of RCA-type Auxiliary inputs can provide the interface of several types of external audio sources.

# Direct loading and playback of 3-inch discs

# Small, ergonomic wireless remote control included

# Digital quartz clock

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You can choose between amber, red and green button illumination and then amber green and blue backlighting.

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As new, boxed with everything, remote control still sealed etc.

£250 Delivered, No offers. Thanks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think the Nakamichi units looks superb, thenew Alpines, Calrions and top end Pioneers all look terrible!!

Still for sale, will put it on Ebay Thursday.....

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Sorry for the shaky shots, was trying to get a shot on a long exposure so the backlight would show, and do it quickly before the menu for adjusting it would reset! smile.gif

£225 delivered!!!!

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I was running it with a Genesis Profile 4 Ultra and it really is an awesome combo, it would sound lovely with the Dynaudios, he obviously likes a smooth sound.

Oh and this is the latest firmware, so the hanging up of MP3's that was on the early models is now sorted.

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