Teac CD Recorder (2008)

Name: Teac CD recorder
Brand: Teac

Up front: "Teac CD recorder" is a category, not a single model. The surviving documentation here covers one machine, the CD-RW880 CD-RW player/recorder. The service manual is dated October 2008, and that's the firmest dating we have. If you're looking for one of Teac's other recorders (the CDW or RW series, for instance), this page won't cover it.

Here is what the manual establishes. The CD-RW880 records and plays CD-RW and CD-R discs for digital audio, and plays back standard CDs. It records at 44.1 kHz and accepts converter input at 32 kHz or 48 kHz. Frequency response is quoted as 20 Hz to 20 kHz, within ±1.5 dB for both playback and recording. Signal-to-noise is 90 dB for playback and digital recording, and drops to 82 dB for analog recording. Dynamic range is 86 dB playback and 84 dB recording. THD is under 0.05% in both directions, and wow & flutter is listed as unmeasurable. Line input is -6 dB (0.5 V) into 20 kΩ. Line output is -6 dB (0.5 V) into 1 kΩ, with a maximum output of +6 dBV (2.0 V).

It's a full-width component: 435 × 100 × 295 mm, 4.5 kg net, drawing 16 W (12 W in standby). It was sold in 120 V/60 Hz (USA), 100 V (Japan), and 230 V/50 Hz (Europe) versions. The parts list confirms region-specific transformers, AC cords, and even different front-panel escutcheons and knobs for the Japanese domestic market. The optical pickup is a Sanyo SF-W37SGT, 783 nm, rated under 1 mW for play, under 5 mW for record, and under 10 mW for erase. Standard accessories were two RCA cables, an optical digital cable, the RC-1037 remote, two AA batteries, the manual, and a warranty card.

The record on reception is thin. The magazine chunks indexed under this model are mostly unrelated. A Teac AG-V8600 A/V receiver appears in HiFI-Stereo (November 1998, p.110) and again in HiFI-Stereo (December 1998, p.106), and Audio (March 1999, p.81) ran a Teac audiophile-rack item that isn't about the CD-RW880 either. Beyond the manual itself, there is no contemporary critical appraisal to cite. That's common for late-2000s consumer CD recorders, which arrived as the format was already being displaced by hard-drive and computer-based recording.