Tascam CD-RW900MKII Professional Rackmount CD Recorder/Player

This is the first time I write a review and I don't know if it will be well done. Well, I am a Portuguese man who lives in his own country and therefore my everyday languge is Portuguese. However I studied English for several years after finishing high school and I easily understand this language.The Tascam is the third cd recorder I buy and I hope to be more lucky with this one than I was with its predecessors. The first I bought was the outstanding Marantz DR6000 but after five years of moderate use its optical group "send the soul to the Creator" as we say in Portugal and unfortunately Marantz no longer had spare optical groups. My second purchase was the Teac CD-RW890 and even though the recorded sound was reasonable, it was a mediocre machine (sorry Teac, but it's the truth). For example, the manual track increment never worked. I had to replace the Teac because recently every time I wanted to make a recording I had to increase the input volume level in relation to the previous recording. My last recording had to be carried out with the volume input level at its maximum!When I noticed that Tascam was manufacturing a professional cd recorder at a reasonable price I stayed alert and now there was a reason to buy it.I received the indispensable voltage converter the day before yesterday when I was just to leave in order to see my wife who is in a hospital 55 Km far from my home, because of a cancer. When I arrived at home late that day, I was tired and I wasn't intending to experiment the cd recorder but I was too curious and I couldn't resist. I picked up a LP record of a portuguese singer and the instructions manual which I read but not thoroughly. After that, I inserted in the Tascam a Sony audio cd-r which was never recognised by the Teac, despite several attempts. I wish to point out that the cd in question belonged to a pack of ten compact discs. Why did the Teac recognise the others and not this one? The answer remains in the air. Well, the Tascam accepted it with no fuss. It passed the first test with grade A. Then, I wanted to record with the automatic track division activated but I didn't manage to make the A_TRK option appear on the screen. I read the instrutions again in some specific points but it was useless. As it was late I decided to increment the track number manually. I truly believe that my problem with the sub-menus was my fault and not because of a manufacturing defect. I am not a person who gives up easily and I am sure that soon, with a fresh mind, I'll discover the right path. When I listened to the recorded cd (in a Rega Apollo cd player), though with the sound level very low because of the neighbours, I could realize that the sound was really good. Yesterday I could listen loudly to the portuguese singer and it seemed that the man had risen from the dead and was singing in my room. I can say that the copy is better than the original. With the Marantz I could achieve the same results but it was very simple to work with. For example, in synchronized recording mode, there was no need to worry with moments of silence. When the "source" started playing, the cd recorder also began recording and the same happened at the end. I think that the Tascam, though a very good machine, is a little bit tricky.Yesterday, when I told my wife that I had recorded a LP of Adriano Correia de Oliveira she said she missed listening to him. So, tomorrow I'll take with me a portable cd player so that I can give her some joy. I don't intend to be sentimental, but I want to thank Tascam for still produce products that no other manufacturer produce. I also hope that Sony, TDK or Maxell continue manufacturing Audio CD-R or CD-RW.

Okay...The Tascam recorder just arrived yesterday, and so far it appears to be working fine. The learning curve was fairly easy since I have been using a Philips CDR 760 and CDR 765 for many years now. However, they no longer seem to accept the newer cd's being manufactured despite being the same brand(s) CD-DA's I've always used. No matter what brand cd's, they just don't record, unless they are the older discs with time still remaining on them from purchases years ago. The good news is, the new Tascam unit plays the newer manufactured CDR's as well as CD-DA and CD-RW discs I've used so far. I just used Verbatium Digital Vinyl discs (they look like little 45rpm records) with "no digital audio designation on the logo" and they worked perfectly...unlike in the Philips unit where they don't record at all. But enough about that, so let's continue on with the new Tascam.There's a slight bit of difference in operation with the Tascam, but since it has many more bells and whistles that's to be expected. The cd tray seems good and sturdy, and I must say, a thousand times better than the very cheap, flimsy, cd tray in my Tascam DP32 unit that actually creates the music for the Tascam CD-RW900mkII to record. It does open a bit faster than similar trays, but at least you don't have to manually pull it out like on the Tascam DP32! That's half the reason I actually bought this unit, because burning a CD on the DP32 is more involved, and the tray is "total junk".The independant left and right record knobs are just what the doctor ordered, along with an internal "overall volume adjustment" on the lighted display after you have made the left and right channels balance how you want them. This is a great feature much more common (and later eliminated) on '70's and 80's cassette players in favor of a "single recording volume knob". As a result, it makes louder copies than the source material. I know I'm really picking bones here, but it would have been nice if they actually "painted the lines" in the knob grooves, including the headphone volume knob, like they are on an electric guitar amplifier. It's just easier to see how far you have things turned up before the unit is turned on.The "pitch and key" features are perhaps useful for someone who creates their own music, but personally I wouldn't have any use for them simply recording music from LP'S. One of the best features to me is the ability to input song names so that they show up on the display. It's much nicer than trying to remember what song #7 is, especially when you haven't actually given it an official name yet, or put the cd in a different case at some point in time. Besides, it just looks nice on the display... like an "SS" emblem on a Chevy Camaro.The Tascam CD-RW900mkII seems to be well built, despite it's light overall weight. I think my biggest overall complaint would be the owners manual. It's to "wordy and distracting" by talking about the units operation AND the remote control functions at the same time. And sometimes you're flip -flopping from page to page like a fish out of water. Furthermore, the cover should be a bit heavier guage paper than the actual pages. Other than that, I think the Tascam CD-RWmkII is a high quality recorder that I would recommend to anyone who needs one for a home recording studio or stereo entertainment system. And yes,... the "retro orange display" looks very nice when stacked ontop of the Sansui 881 stereo receiver!