Hi, I raised this question on the introduction forum by mistake and received a reply from Gary. The reason is I've bought a second hand pair of Denons off an auction site but having mentioned it to some of my fellow jocks they don't rate them much for mobile use. Some say they don't play recorded cd's very well and that the eyes have a tendancy to move out of line quite often. The guy's only used them a few times and says he is upgrading his rig.
What do you think???

Cheers
Loz

Hiya,

The 1800-F has been discontinued by Denon, which I think says it all.

The 1800F was a bit of an embarrassing "Younger Brother" with regard to Denon's product range, hence why it was quickly followed with three additional models. The problem with new designs is that they are flawed, and customers who snapped up the first 1800's were in fact guinea pigs for Denon's designers When a company launches a new product range, it is best to wait at least 12 months whilst the first models have all of their teething problems addressed, this way you are not likely to be plagued with firmware upgrades and product recalls

Unfortunately, the 1800 and Denon never fully recovered from the embarassment of the 1800F, which is why the 2100F and the 2600F models quickly followed, all slightly better products. The 1800F remained their "Budget" model.

Yes, the 1800F does have frequent errors when reading CDR's (Since the unit was originally designed before the widespread use of CDR's!). Other than that, the 1800F isn't a bad unit, and you may be lucky and have the latest version which is a little more stable.

Hi Chris, so what your saying is they made another version of the same model?

Waiting 12 months is a good idea on many things, however, as this thread was related to an early (early early) Denon product, there is ironic good news.

The three current Denon DJ professional models, all have user upgradable software. When a new feature, or patch/fix is ready for launch, Denon release a free data CD, which you simply load into the Cd-deck like a normal disc, while holding down two buttons in a "Secret" combination. 40 to 50 seconds later you've got THE latest machine.

I've got both the DN-D9000 (dual cd deck), and 2 x DN-S5000's (single scratching CD deck with motorised platter/slipmat) (the third model I mentioned is the 4000, which is dual cd-deck, dedicated to playing (and looping) MP3's.

Some of the software upgrades have been minor upgrades, Improved (to near perfect) scratching, more noticable features on the display when a track is running out etc.

But some of the upgrades (free remember) have been tremendously useful. For example, MP3 playback is now there, The Eject lock, which stops you accidently ejecting a CD while its playing, has now been complmented with a "play lock" which also prevents you accidently changing tracks on a CD thats playing too. Even the motorised platter on the DN-S5000 now increases and decreases its speed as you adjust the pitch control, for totally realistic vinyl handling. Also, some additional menu options have been added too.

A great solution to those wishing to get the new technology now, without waiting for the teething troubles to be ironed out, and no having to return the unit to the dealer, or factory - The only time that your cd-deck will be out-of-action, is the 40 seconds of the update.

I understand that Numarks CDN-90, has a similar user software upgrade procedure...hopefully soon, all cd-decks will feature this very usefull feature.

Loz, when you buy a product you'll often see the words:-

QUOTE

XXXXXX has the policy of ongoing product development.....

Is this basically corporate wording for "We are not responsible for any teething problems on the first model because we are already working on the MK2!"

There were many "firmware" upgrades on the 1800F, unfortunately, unlike the current models they were done in the factory and not user installed .

Early Denon products were like a lottery, some may work for years, others may need the attentions of an engineer on a monthly basis.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you what era your 1800F came from, and you will take a gamble on its reliability - i'd say a fair 50 / 50 chance of no problems, but keep it away from those CDR's

Thanks Chris, fingers crossed I might have bought a good one!!

I have 1800-fs and they have worked fine for me over the last two years and i bought them second hand of a gonzo bedroom dj/producer.

mine are the white version of the 1800s.

as for cdrs i find that my cdrs work with less errors on the 1800s than on pionneer 1000's and numark 58's.

Mine get a fare knocking around, the cd chasis is rackmounted in a roadcase and gets lugged around on a trailer.

Dont get me wrong they are pretty basic and as soon as i can afford it i will be buying those flash new dennons with the vinyl feel.

I wonder how much i would have paid if they were not branded 'dennnon'though?????

Hi NikiDJ

Welcome to the forum...Wow! we're really getting international here now. We might have to start arranging Exchange Trips or something .

QUOTE

cdrs work with less errors on the 1800s than on pionneer 1000's

I used to use a CDJ-1000 for a few hours a week, and can agree wholeheartedly with you...not only were they fussy about which brands of CD-R they would read, they also occasionally stopped DEAD in the middle of a track, when playing even shop-bought CD-singles, with a lovely Hexadecimal error message flashing on the display... All units needed to be posted/couriered back to Pioneer to fix that firmware issue.

To be fair, I'm not sure how many CDJ-1000s made it to the UK with that CD-single software error on them, as the error was found fairly quickly in the US, which were ahead of the UK shipping (as always) by a good few weeks.

However, even the revised/repaired CDJ-1000's seem very finniky about CDR brands.

The 1800 f i thought was the norm in most clubs, ive seen them in about 2 clubs. I have the 2000 f mk 3 which i dont see much difference, I done a search on this player can't find much info on, even though i have seen this player in a club.
I have no trouble with CDR's with the 2000 f.