A "good" companion to other Nakamichi car audio head units (updated 1/27/03)
Written: Jan 18 '02 (Updated Jan 31 '03)
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Pros: With the DAC-41 D/A converter, audio performance amongst the very best available.
Cons: Slow disc swapping, fussy and sometimes glitchy Music Bank. EXPENSIVE to repair.
The Bottom Line: For the Nak car-stereo buff who appreciates fine sonic quality but wants the flexibility of multi-CDs, it's an addition worth looking at. But look hard.
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| monoblocks's Full Review: Nakamichi MB-70 6-Disc CD Changer |
1/27/03: Nakamichi, now NakUSA, is apparently back in business. Still no new product in the hands of my local dealer, however (they did receive some stock of older models). But they finally repaired the MB-70. I have it back. In the car. Shocking. Gee, and it only took five months and change; I had even begun shopping for replacement options for both the head unit and the wayward changer. Guess I should stop (then again, perhaps not).
To be fair, there was a bankruptcy and a change of ownership in there. But there also was a case of highway robbery as well. The original quote to have the local factory-authorized repair shop do the work was around $200. The subsequent repair work as executed by NakUSA themselves (after the local guys threw up their hands and gave up waiting for the parts) ended up being $350. In other words, $25 MORE than what I paid for the MB-70 to begin with. It still took more than 12 WEEKS for the 'official' repair facility to complete the work and get the thing back into the car after they first received the unit.
At least I discovered what great guys there are at my local dealer after having to go through this insane runaround. They were sympathetic to the cause, even though their hands were tied in terms of the final cost (I saw the invoice for what NakUSA charged them, though there was very little in the way of breakdown on what exactly NakUSA did to repair the MB-70 itself). All in all, I'm disappointed with NakUSA's lethargic performance and the added expense of having them do the repair work, even if I were to discount the protracted waiting period at the early stages of this saga.
The unit appears to work as before, even if after five months I had to reacquaint myself with its operation. All that's left to say is when and if this thing blows up again (it IS a MusicBank, mind you), NakUSA can forget about getting another batch of cash to repair this puppy. There ARE other options...
I've downgraded the Durability rating of this model as a result. I've also hammered the overall rating as well; at this point it's feels wholly justified. While most of the body of the review remains unchanged, I've revised my conclusions at the end. Considering that for about 25% of the time that I've owned the thing that it's been out of commission, and to return it to service I got hosed in the process, it shouldn't be a surprise. BTW: though it's supposed to be discontinued, you might happen across leftover stock with a dealer. If you take only one thing away from this review, it's the following: be very, very careful.
(A record of my whiny, sniveling repair updates are posted in this review's Comments, BTW)
(My original review; at least from an audio fidelity standpoint it's still relevant):
If you've read my Nakamichi CD45z review here on epinions, you will know I've been an ardent Nak junkie. But however I may feel about Nakamichi the company, that lovefest doesn't always apply to all of their products all of the time. Not all of their designs are knockouts; I've never really been sold on their home audio amplifier designs, or crazy about that Dragon turntable they created a few years back, and as well as my lukewarm appreciation of their mobile speaker gear. One of their innovations, the Music Bank CD changer system, has never been on my favorites list as well, even though I've had relatively good luck with my two examples of it.
My first taste of this system was with my MB-2 home changer, which I believe was one of their first-generation MB designs. While for most of its life it's operated relatively error-free, it has been know on occasion to hiccup and get confused from time to time, especially when using the random play mode. Plus, I've spoken with others who have owned either the MB-2 or its brethren MB-1 or MB-3; some of the tales they tell about discs disappearing forever (or at least until the repair shop retrieves them), or the violent banging on the unit's upper casing in order to get their CD eaters to regurgitate a favorite CD without calling for the repairman; not very strong in confidence-building.
I won't go into great detail about the Music Bank system; suffice to say that it's a design that allows for multi-disc operations in a limited amount of space, like in a DIN-sized car stereo chassis. Also suffice to say that for it to operate correctly, a fair number of things need to happen in the proper sequence, coupled with an equally fair number of parts doing all those actions correctly in order for that sequence to go smoothly.
The way the Music Bank works is that the usual separate CD cartridge used to hold multiple CDs in other CD changers made by Sony, Clarion, Kenwood and others is built directly into the Nak. Instead of filling the cartridge and then feeding the cartridge into the changer, Nakamichi's system has you feed the CDs directly into the changer itself, one at a time through the rather hungry-looking slot (at least to me it looks that way), similar to that you would find on a single-disc car CD player.
The capacity of the MB-70 is six discs. Loading operation is simple; just press the LED button corresponding to the tray number that you wish to load the CD to. If the tray already has a disc, the LED will already be lit, if not it'll be dark. Regardless, the MB-70 will go through its shuffling cycle to prep the tray; when the LED is pressed, it will light to amber and turns green when the tray is ready to receive the new disc. Pull out any old CD if any and then feed the new one into the machine. The MB-70 goes through another shuffling cycle, then will set the disc to be ready for play. If more discs are to be loaded, just repeat the procedure for each of the other trays. What could be simpler?
Because this is a slave component, all other CD functions apart from loading/unloading are run through a compatible head unit, such as the CD45z in my case. You HAVE to have the head unit to operate the MB (or with a head unit from another manufacturer, you have to have the optional RF control unit). All track controls and switching from disc-to-disc is via the buttons on the 45z's faceplate. Operations are easy to do once you learn what each of the buttons on the head unit controls.
Sonically, the normally 1-bit MB-70 is virtually identical to the 20-bit CD45z, if coupled with the optional 20-bit DAC-41 digital to audio converter ($200 full retail). I haven't been able to tell the two players apart. Both provide excellent, lush and detailed sound. The MB-70, with the separate 20-bit converter, is audibly a hands-down winner.
Where the machine hiccups is with its tendency to mistrack, especially with road flaws. At times, the MB seems sensitive to even the most common bumps, such as lane divider dots. However, the impact is often quite inconsistent. I can hit a pothole full on and nothing will happen; I can also run into a dip in the roadway and the MB will wander like crazy, either replaying the same segment of song it just played perhaps 30 seconds ago, or jumping forward say, 15 second. On my MB, even from tray-to-tray this varies. Tray 2 is worst, especially with CD-Rs. It will skip under the least bit of jarring or with sudden lateral motions, as in quick cornering. Trays 4 through 6, however, are rock solid, exhibiting virtually no mistracking whatsoever.
The other major irritant is the slowness of it's load/unload cycles, and the tray-changing cycle. Don't plan on being in a hurry if you're going to retrieve that disc in tray 5 before leaving the car, especially if you had been listening to the disc in tray 1 just before you shut off the engine.
One other flaw I mentioned in my CD45z review is Nakamichi's lack of consistency in their various component finishes. The CD45z has a glossy black plastic finish, the MB-70 a matte black one (which personally I prefer). Other Nakamichi components aren't even black at all. Perhaps hodge-podge is in at Nak these days.
One nicety is that the MB-70 is wired such that the loading/unloading of CDs can occur even with the motor and ignition off, or with the faceplate of the head unit unattached. And because it's a DIN-sized chassis, if you have a double-DIN slot in your car, the changer can conveniently be located at your fingertips right with the head unit in the dash/center console, unlike the typical in-the-trunk or under-the-seat installations with other CD changers. Worse case, the unit can take some space in the glove box. This is one big gold star for the six-disc MB-70: small size. However, this also makes me even more worried about the complexity of the MB system, since it's more compact than the home MB unit I have, and that one itself is far from mechanically perfect.
But so far the MB-70 hasn't faltered, even if tray 2 occasionally tries to get the best of me. Oh, as for pricing: I purchased mine new from an eBay auction, the same auction that netted a CD45z for one of our cars (which accounts for the low price listed here; you can read about further details of the purchase in my CD45z review if you wish). The DAC-41 was purchased from another eBay auction, though the box and instructions were included, this one appeared to be a demo or leftover stock, but considering that there's not much that can go wrong with a D/A converter and that I paid only half retail including shipping, I'm not complaining a bit.
Conclusions:
As a result of the trauma resulting from the misadventure of having to repair my MB-70, I'm now offering up a revisionist's summation to this review:
It's still very much a great-sounding piece of equipment. Even after five months away. It works flawlessly in conjunction with the CD45z. After the time in the shop, it now seems to track and play error-free as it never did before. But it's still early. And this is one case where great audio performance may not be enough.
To car stereo buffs who own a compatible Nakamichi head unit or are looking at buying one but are not sure about the changer, from me it's a cautionary Recommended add-on. I'd advise you to read the about the problems with the repairs, both in the review above and in the Comments, then decide if it's worth taking a chance on a used or leftover stock unit. If a matching in-dash unit is what you desire, you really have little choice. The MF-51 5-disc unit is available, but it's deeper than the MB-70; mounting options may be limited as a result.
As I said the first time around, if you can't mount it in the dash proper the MB-70 is small enough to fit in most glove boxes. The DAC-41 D/A converter is perhaps a somewhat pricey $200 add (plus labor if you have a shop do the work), but it's still a worthy addition given its top notch audio performance. At one time Nakamichi/NakUSA's web site stated that they offered an RF unit so that the MB-70 now can work with all types of stereos...to you who have other head unit brands, I'll Recommend this if only to experience what an excellent sounding piece of equipment this can be. But if you're looking for dependability, you most definitely have other options that I'd explore first.
Perhaps it's indeed good that the MB-70 has been consigned to Discontinued Heaven (or Hell, depending on your viewpoint).
(my original ending thought):
Oh, to all those who don't have Nak gear, or aren't planning on getting some anytime soon? You don't know what you're missing (or maybe you indeed do...).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 325
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Epinions.com ID:
monoblocks
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Location: PacNW
Reviews written: 36
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