Marantz CD-17 (circa 1988)

The Marantz CD-17 comes from Marantz's late-1980s "golden age" of CD engineering, and collectors still talk about it. The surviving documentation is thinner than the reputation. It was introduced around 1988 and sold in the UK at approximately £399.99. It is a 16-bit, 4x oversampling machine built around the Philips TDA1541 dual DAC, paired with a SA7220B digital filter. The claimed figures were respectable for the era: 96 dB dynamic range, 96 dB S/N ratio, and THD of 0.0015% at 1 kHz.

Audio magazine (February 1997, p.56) profiled the CD-17 well after its introduction, and reviewer Daniel Kumin's impressions were warm. The magazine described the player as keeping a "very quiet, deep, black background" for music. The profile also noted the transport was a Philips CDM-12 mechanism, and that the analog output stage was all-discrete. Audio (February 1997, p.57) also described the player's frequency response as remarkably flat. The review pointed out one quirk: most functions beyond the basics (power, open/close, play, pause, stop, track skip) were accessible only via the supplied remote control, not from the front panel.

Some sources list the CD-17's DAC as the TDA1541A S1 "selection" grade chip, but that may actually apply to the CD-17 MkII, introduced roughly two years later around 1990. Sources conflict on the original CD-17's DAC, with some listing the standard TDA1541 and others the Philips TDA1541A. Anyone with one should check which chip is inside - the S1 was a higher-specification grade.

Known specifications, per period documentation:

DAC: Philips TDA1541 or TDA1541A, 16-bit, 4x oversampling (dual DAC) — sources conflict
Digital filter: SA7220B
Dynamic range: 96 dB (claimed)
S/N ratio: 96 dB (claimed)
THD: 0.0015% at 1 kHz (claimed)
Outputs: RCA digital, optical (MPU-based output switching)
Remote control included
UK price circa 1988: £399.99

No confirmed dimensions, weight, or US MSRP have surfaced in the Archive's files. The CD-17 MkII is a separate, later model with its own specs, so don't confuse the two when shopping.