NEC 650E (1986)

The NEC 650E is a compact disc player from the mid-1980s. Period press called it the CD-650E. Almost everything the archive has on it comes from one source: an Equipment Profile in Audio magazine (December 1986, p.114). The reviewer opened by admitting he had believed every CD player priced under $500 was a compromised design meant for casual listeners. The NEC changed his mind. He ranked its reproduced sound with the best at its price level, and said that judgement held at any price level.

Audio (December 1986, p.114) published NEC's specifications: frequency response 5 Hz to 20 kHz (+0.5, −1.0 dB), signal-to-noise ratio 96 dB, dynamic range 92 dB, THD 0.006%, and channel separation 86 dB at 1 kHz. The player offered 15-selection random-access programming. Outputs were a fixed 2.0 V rms line level, a variable output (0 to 2.0 V rms), and a headphone output (0 to 2.0 V rms).

The magazine singled out piano reproduction as superb, as good as the reviewer had heard from just about any CD player (p.122). The one disappointment was long access time. Moving the laser from the innermost to the outermost track of a test disc took 7.5 seconds. Adjacent-track access was a quick 1.0 second. The December 1986 cover of Audio led with the CD-650E under the line "excellent performance."

Beyond that review, documentation is thin. The archive records no production years, original price or service history. The December 1986 review is the firm dating anchor.

Known specifications from the period review: