Philips CD-880

The Philips CD-880 was my 1st proper CD player. I actually had my heart set on the Philips CD-650 but was informed it was no longer in production, and, the CD-880 was it's successor when I had save enough to buy one in 1989. Paid $1250 for the CD-880.

Philips CD-880 pix from the net

Don't think I need to go over the specifications etc for the unit as it is quite a well known unit and there are many sources of such information on the net. 

What I will do is provide information regarding what's not well known about the CD-880. I owned one for 13 years before deciding to sell it.

The unit was mainly plastic and thus quite light. If memory serves, was about 6kg. The laser does not read from the old blue dye CD-R which were available at the time.  The tray mechanism was not as solid as the Sony ES series but did an adequately job; had a built-in adapter for the smaller single version of CD.

The remote was well design and pleasant to use.

Variable output from the CD-880 had too much HF for my taste. At that time, I tested the results by connecting the CD-880 directly to a Carver power amp with a pair of Celestion SL-6s. Fixed output was much better but still a little lean on the bass. Extremely fluid and rich mids thanks to the TDA1541A.

Another plus was the shock absorption capability of the attached feet to the base of the unit - the CD-880 would play non-disruptively unless you gave it a hard knock squarely on it's chassis!

Personally I think the display presentation of the CD-880 was the best of the lot ... looks cool, even after more than two decades!!!

Do I have any regrets selling my CD-880? No, as I still prefer the sonic signature of it's predecessor.