Pioneer PDR-609 CD Recorder - Product Review

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Now, to start recording. Basically, you choose your input source, Analog, Optical, or Coaxial. For the purpose of my recordings, I chose Analog. Now, to set your levels, turn on the Monitor function, put your record on the turntable, play the first track, and adjust your input levels as discussed above.

Now, the question is, how can I record both sides of my record without having to manually pause and start the CD recorder at the proper times? Well, Pioneer has an interesting solution that is perfect for recording vinyl records. The Synchro feature does everything for you except flip the record. This feature enables you to automatically record just one cut at a time or the entire side of a record, stopping and starting at the correct time.

The Synchro feature can sense the sound that the tonearm cartridge makes when hitting the surface of the record and stops when the cartridge lifts off at the end. If the record surface is extremely quiet, the unit can even pause between cuts and still "kick in" just as the music starts.

You would think that beginnings of songs would be cut off, due to delay time, but so far the system seems to work well for me. What is especially nice is that the when the unit pauses after playing one side of a record, you have all the time in the world to flip and then the PDR-609 restarts and records the second side automatically. This is real time saver; I can start the recording, go off and do something else, then come back and keep going. If I want to check the progress of the recording, I can just pop on some headphones and monitor the recording.

Another interesting feature that aids in the recording of vinyl recordings is the ability to set the "silence threshold". With vinyl records having more surface noise that is not present on digital sources like CDs, the CD recorder may not recognize the space between cuts as silence and, thus, may not number the recorded tracks properly. If you wish to have accurate track numbering on your CD copy, you can actually set the -DB levels of the Auto Track function.

Once your recording is finished, however, you can't just take your newly created CD and play it in any CD player; you must go through a process called finalization. This process is important in that it labels the number of cuts on the CD and makes the file structure on the disc compatible for play on any CD player. Caution: once you finalize a disc, you cannot record anything else on it, even if you have empty space.

This process is actually very easy. All you have to do is press the "Finalize" button. The PDR-609 then reads the disc and displays how much time (usually about two minutes) the finalization process will take. After this message is displayed on the LED display, just press the record/pause button and the process begins. When the finalization process is finished, the CD Recorder stops.

Voila! You can now take your completed CD and play it in any CD, CD/DVD player, or PC/MAC CD or DVD Rom Drive. The quality of the copies is excellent, although it's kind of weird to hear the sound of a tonearm drop and disc surface noise on a CD!

You can also record from digital audio sources (as mentioned earlier), but I haven't utilized its digital input recording capabilities yet. You can also create your own fade-ins and fade-outs between cuts.

This unit also has CD-text capability, allowing you to label your CD and each individual cut. This information can be read by CD and/or CD/DVD players and CD/DVD-Rom drives, with TEXT reading capability. The text functions and other additional features can be accessed easily from the provided remote control.

In conclusion, while many vinyl record enthusiasts may consider the copying of vinyl recordings onto CD less than desirable, it is certainly a convenient way to enjoy such recordings in your office or car, where a turntable many not be available. Also, as stated earlier, this may be the best way to "preserve" out-of-print recordings that may never be re-issued either on vinyl or CD. Also, with its analog input capability, it would interesting to experiment with live performances using an audio mixer with RCA audio outputs and CD-RW blank recording media. <p> From all indications so far, the Pioneer PDR-609 is an excellent choice for a stand alone audio CD recorder. By the way, it is also a great CD player as well.