Philips LHH0502

This almost belongs in the Invisibilia section as the LHH0502 was made available for a few months only and really more as a preview of the upcoming LHH2000...

Presented in late spring of 1984, the LHH0502 was a professional system based drive-wise, on the CD300, fitted with all professional features such as dual remote-control, 19" rack control unit and TV monitor for all programming and diagnosis - same as Sony's 1982 CDP-5000 / CDA-5000.

The CD300 base was stripped from all its buttons with only the open/close key remaining ; communication with the main control system was done with a flat multi-cable.
Programming accuracy was of (previsibly) 13,3ms, that is 1/75th of a second. Being aimed at the broadcast crowd, on air and local routing was possible, as was programming & monitoring of one player while the other is playing on air.

Remaining a bit puzzling is the access time on the CD300 / CD303 which is far from being swift - extensive servo modifications must have taken place !

Mr Leo M. Greep, then product manager at Philips for the LHH0502, stated that this was a first for Philips which would be quickly followed by another with dedicated drive units (LHH2000) and later on by models tailored for DJs booming in discos - and more.

Philips however missed that segment of the market as Sony (CDP-3000 / CDS-3000) and Denon (DN series) took most of it, with Technics and Victor playing on whatever space was left. Given the tentative 1984 list price of the LHH0502, it is easy to understand not many radio stations bought one : 30.000DM !

The LHH0502 consists of three different units, not counting the TV monitor :
LHH0512 control system
LHH0511 CD drive
LHH0513 control unit
A dedicated printer was also available to print set lists and forward them to the local SACEM / GEMA copyright & royalties institutions - broadcast all the way.

The LHH name stuck by for Philips' japanese lineup like the LHH1000 (aka Marantz CD-12 and CDA-12) and small lineups of high-end audio separates.


Given the short lifespan of the LHH0502, I don't think a proper catalog was ever made available - so these images come from a june 1984 Audio (DE) issue which were probably taken at a 1984 professional Audio Fair somewhere.