Marantz CD-73

Definitely the other other most remembered Digital Audio Disc player in Europe - the Philips CD100 and Sony CDP-101 being the first two.

Shiny tacky goldy looks as per the other contemporary Marantz (...Philips) units, this was Marantz version of the Philips CD 300, ready as a final design before the Philips units.

No digit display : only one row of green dots for the preset/programmed tracks and one row of yellow dots for the tracks present (and playing) on the inserted CD.
The backlit CD logo is part of the goodies added which also made the CD-73 remembered through time.


The CD-73 was originally named CD-83, a pre-production sample which was shown in 1982 trade shows and which also was displayed in european catalogs as late as march 1983 !
Its companion was the equally pre-production CD-333 which was the Marantz version of the Philips CD100 and the future Marantz CD-63.

Those two pre-production samples are nearly 100% equivalents of the final production units but for a couple of differing scripting and discrete design differences ; you can see both of them on this page, under Knobber images °14 to °17.

Marantz didn't fancy the 35cm format of the CD-63 / CD-333 and therefore didn't push its sales much - the opposite of Philips who was pushing for the CD100 sales.
Both brands left their vertical designs in the shadows : CD-??? for Marantz (1982) and CD-400 for Philips (1983).


The CD-73 could be remote-controlled by infra-red but this called for a big additional box as wide as the CD-73 itself : RC 430 (and even RC 430MKII !) and RMC 12.
The receiving box was hooked to the back remote terminals of the CD-73.

The design of the RC 430 probably comes from the same timframe as the CD-83 pre-production sample as the power-on button of it is the same that of the CD-83 : the red LED is encased in the power-on button itself.
It seems to have been shown in very few catalog only and not advertised at all : it was a sci-fi feature in 1982, it wasn't at all by 1983...

Center of all of those variants was and still is the Philips CDM-1 mechanism (the one and only everlast CD drive) and the Philips TDA-1540 14-bit digital to analogue chip with 4fs oversampling function, a common combination in those days.


Helped by the Marantz "aura", the CD-73 sold very well, except in Japan, where it was kept on the distant side by the Philips owner who chose to push the CD-63B a bit more forward.
Neither sold well in Japan but the extremely successful LHH series were to arrive... finally not that late after the CD-73 : 1985 for the original LHH2000, 1987 for the LHH1000 bestseller.

Many CD-73 are still around and most are still playing Digital Audio Discs just like way back in 1983 because the Philips CDM-1 really is of the undying kind.

Also available in Japan in a dedicated but optional high-gloss wood enclosure with tob and bottom recesses around the tray - a near-Invisibilia item.


This page will soon be updated with the rare original japanese catalog.