Marantz CD-17
Marantz CD-17KI
Marantz CD-17D
Marantz CD-17DA
Marantz CD-19
(1994 - 1998)

Big bestseller which however did sound better than it... felt.

First mid-end Marantz CD player to abandon the indestructible CDM-4 and its many versions for the flimsy, plasticky and - let's face it - cheap CDM-12, the drawer operation really is a full-tilt deception compared to the rest of the player.
Inside, the CD-17 is also quite industrial and undistinguished - the days of the CD-12, CD-94 or CD-16 really were gone : one simple trafo, lots of SMD caps (beware of those - they leak !), a single board for the power-supply and digital/analogue conversions, pressed metal and no copper-plating.... If the CD-17 was meant as a first price in audiophile CD replay, it still was a bit meager, weight-wise.

Sound-wise, of course, the CD-17 (and its many upgraded versions) sold like hotcakes worldwide, Marantz taking the lead which Sony had kept for almost 15 years. A fair player in stock form with its Taiwan-made TDA1547, said many upgraded versions allowed to get a bit closer to the 17's pretenses : better trafo (shielded & OFC), better versions of the CDM-12, remodeled main board with New HDAMs instead of the original HDAMs etc - there are many web pages around which describe all of those differences.

Basically, and if I make no mistakes :
CD-17Ki = Ken Ishiwata tweaked version of the original CD-17
CD-17D = has a digital input to use as d/a converter
CD-17Da = same as 17D but with a VAM1201 mechanism which reads CD-RW
CD-19 = with digital input, double-differential DAC7 circuit but the normal the CDM-12.

The cheaper CD-19 closed the series in 1998 at a time SACD was (sort of ) about to happen. Philips & Marantz were so happy with their successful series that Philips' original stereo SACD prototype was housed in a barely modified CD-17 enclosure :)