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 Post subject: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 18 Mar 2025, 13:47 
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Hi, just sharing this as I know others will appreciate it. Bought the LD-S1 a few months ago, followed by the LD-X1 and then the HLD-X0. All from Japan.

As many already know, the quality of these machines is vastly superior to the UK/european machines like the CLD-D925 that feels cheap in comparison. Can't believe the LD-S1 came out in 1987, older discs look lovely and soft on it. Not had massive amount of time on the LD-X1 yet as the HLD-X0 arrived shortly after. Thought the latter didnt work and had a massive panic until I realised it was my upscaler. Would like to try a CLD-97 as well for comparison and will probably then decide to keep 2 and sell the others.

Touch wood all working very well and enjoying knowing with HLD-X0 that the discs probably wont look better on anything else :)

PS - cant believe how big the HLD-X0 is - my AV receiver is no slouch but looks positively tiny in comparison (!)


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Last edited by suigeneris on 20 Mar 2025, 18:54, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 20 Mar 2025, 08:49 
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If you use the search function you’ll find plenty of posts about these units. Also the vast majority of users won’t buy 3 units within the span of a few months. Let alone the ones you purchased . There’s absolutely no sense to do so when you acquire just one of the ones you have. Most are happy to find one working unit and then start to buy movies and enjoy said movies instead of buying 3 players. I mean, think about switch connecting between 3 players just because. These units should be superior CLD-925, they cost 10x the price. Not sure what else you would expect in terms of craftsmen and quality between the units.


If you search you’ll find a post which rates them as X0>S2>CLD97/95 and then the rest. Congrats though. I’m surprised I didn’t see this post on the laser disc forever forum for the likes.
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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 20 Mar 2025, 15:00 
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Are those shelves glass? I'm surprised they can handle the weight of the X0!

Of the players you mention, I haven't seen any in action other than the 97. Had one up until a year ago until I decided to part with it (nice picture and colors, but I like my Runco just a little bit better and couldn't pack a 3rd LD player for the cross-country move.)

Would love to get an S2/X1 or X0 but I don't think either of those monstrosities would fit in my setup!
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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 20 Mar 2025, 18:58 
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psu190 wrote:
If you use the search function you’ll find plenty of posts about these units. Also the vast majority of users won’t buy 3 units within the span of a few months. Let alone the ones you purchased . There’s absolutely no sense to do so when you acquire just one of the ones you have. Most are happy to find one working unit and then start to buy movies and enjoy said movies instead of buying 3 players. I mean, think about switch connecting between 3 players just because. These units should be superior CLD-925, they cost 10x the price. Not sure what else you would expect in terms of craftsmen and quality between the units.

If you search you’ll find a post which rates them as X0>S2>CLD97/95 and then the rest. Congrats though. I’m surprised I didn’t see this post on the laser disc forever forum for the likes.


I know its a bit overkill, but I got carried away.. Always wanted laserdisc in the 90s but couldnt afford anything back then! Will more than likely sell 1 or 2 of them. Got lucky with the X0 though as I didnt know if it fully worked when ordering but thankfully seems OK.
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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 21 Mar 2025, 02:21 
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suigeneris wrote:
Got lucky with the X0 though as I didnt know if it fully worked when ordering but thankfully seems OK.


Make sure the X0 is on a stable/protected 100V power source.

I'd say 100~105V is safe to use (Tokyo power is around 104V these days).

They seem to be quite ticklish with power source and do not take power hits kindly.

Julien
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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 21 Mar 2025, 13:21 
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psu190 wrote:
These units should be superior CLD-925, they cost 10x the price.
Although let's be honest, for the NTSC-only players, however good they are, they're never going to look as good as the cheapest PAL player playing PAL discs, due to their inherent low resolution and 'Never Twice the Same Colour' system...

It's a shame we never had a 'high end' PAL player. Maybe one day an enthusiast will take one of these players and modify it to turn it into a PAL machine - although goodness knows how big a task that would be...
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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 21 Mar 2025, 16:28 
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yaffle2345 wrote:
psu190 wrote:
These units should be superior CLD-925, they cost 10x the price.
Although let's be honest, for the NTSC-only players, however good they are, they're never going to look as good as the cheapest PAL player playing PAL discs, due to their inherent low resolution and 'Never Twice the Same Colour' system...

It's a shame we never had a 'high end' PAL player. Maybe one day an enthusiast will take one of these players and modify it to turn it into a PAL machine - although goodness knows how big a task that would be...


And a definate “thumbs up” from me should that ever materialise!
I have a fairly strong recollection of reading that someone (I think in UK?) actually did manage this some time ago - I’m also reasonably sure it was a HLD-X9, sadly unable to now confirm where I read this? On a slightly different topic, I did once see a CLD-D925 for sale on ebay that was retro fitted with an hdmi output.
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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 21 Mar 2025, 16:42 
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Are suicidal or a Youtubber or something? Thats a ton of money dropped on players that you don’t seem to have a decent shelf for.

That picture scares me. The players are larger than what they are sitting on. The LD-S1 looks like it’s hovering and the X-0, which is SO heavy, is mounted as high as possible with its legs barely touching the GLASS shelf.

I’m tempted to call 999 to see if someone can check up on you and see if you’re feeling OK.
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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 22 Mar 2025, 23:43 
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I have had my CLD-925 for almost 25 years now (I bought it used) and it's still working just fine to this day. I have been spinning a lot of discs in the last months and it plays all discs PAL and NTSC just fine without any issues whatsoever.

It might not have the same built quality as an X0 but it's a very good player nonetheless. I had an X0 before and in my opinion the X0 had a better picture, yes, but it wasn't night and day, either.
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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 23 Mar 2025, 16:54 
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signofzeta wrote:
Are suicidal or a Youtubber or something? Thats a ton of money dropped on players that you don’t seem to have a decent shelf for.

That picture scares me. The players are larger than what they are sitting on. The LD-S1 looks like it’s hovering and the X-0, which is SO heavy, is mounted as high as possible with its legs barely touching the GLASS shelf.

I’m tempted to call 999 to see if someone can check up on you and see if you’re feeling OK.

Well you know what they say, with great money comes...uh...no sense.
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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 23 Mar 2025, 18:52 
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signofzeta wrote:
Are suicidal or a Youtubber or something? Thats a ton of money dropped on players that you don’t seem to have a decent shelf for.


But the shelf looks cool with the glass and all. :thumbup:

Those things are tempered glass, I'm sure he got it off amazon from a reputable seller and its legit.
If not he will get a refund or replacement of equal value on the shelving unit if the shelves have any damage.
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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 24 Mar 2025, 02:03 
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signofzeta wrote:
That picture scares me.


I agree with that one: put the X0 at the bottom if you can, it's 36kg.

I have tempered glass shelves as well with a max of 100kg but my X0 is also on the bottom level for safety

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 Post subject: Re: Flagship Japanese Pioneer players
PostPosted: 24 Mar 2025, 17:57 
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Tempering glass doesn’t make it indestructible. It makes it stronger. It’s still glass, which is not used for shelves when strength matters. It’s used when “look at me look at me” matters. Wood and metal are vastly superior materials for a shelf. Glass is basically a dare.

Tempering glass also gives it a completely different failure mode than most materials or normal glass. It won’t crack or bend or give you any warning, it will simply explode, everywhere, the entire shelf, into millions of pieces. If the top shelf fails with a 70lb player on it it may very well take out the shelves beneath making for multiple millions of pieces of glass which now as to be meticulously hand picked out of your gear for days.

If you’ve ever had a windshield on a car be destroyed totally you know what it’s like to be finding glass years after the event. It’s so fun.
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