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Memorex Black media

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Memorex Black media

Postby Bloody Aztec on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:35 am

Which manufacturer really makes this media? I can't seem to identify it with any program...
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Postby huy397 on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:35 am

Mostly likely CMC.
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Memorex Black CDRs as of 2004-ProDisc Type 9 = Very superior

Postby Seagoat on Tue Apr 20, 2004 8:15 pm

For Audio burning use, I have just found this media is the best, better than Mitsui Gold which I used for six years. The Memorex is the same dye but a different plastic coating (black to the eye, possibly less light scatter to the laser). Whatever, it sounds nearly identical to the original CDRs copied on an Alesis Masterlink and very consistent (a major complaint concering Cyanine CDs on this machine).
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Postby Halc on Wed Apr 21, 2004 5:02 am

Seagoat,

I'm not trying to refute your findings (they are experiental, my argument is technical, ie. they don't operate on the same domain).

However, I must ask:

What equipment have they been played back on?

High quality CD playback equipment should be almost (I say almost, not completely) oblivious to media/reader based jitter.

As such, I see very little possibility (with my knowledge) for there to be an an actual signal difference that is beyond known levels of audibility for jitter.

However, like I said, that doesn't mean the difference is not there. I'm merely questioning the process as I can't see where it could be.

For low price equipment with bad inherent jitter tolerance on the DA level all bets are off (of course). There audible levels of signal differences should be very much possible.

regards,
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Black Memorex/Pro-Disc CDR for Alesis Masterlink use only

Postby Seagoat on Wed Apr 21, 2004 3:41 pm

Dear Halycon,
I did not post my qualifications or equipment for my prior post. I generally post at Steve Hoffmans' site. I would not recommend use of the Memorex/Pro-Disc for non-standalone audio burner use for several reasons. However, as to the Alesis Masterlink, it has been confirmed that the Black Memorex is superior, possibly based only on its black polycarbonate color, for burning audio discs. We used three masters and now 20 copies are identical. Not so with TY and Mitsuis where it is still hit and miss. Whether or not jitter burning problems are the reason the Memorex works, we don't know. Alesis top engineers could not determine why all of our burners inconsistenly burned identical copies; however, we determined it was the media. Any Ritek discs were very inconsistent and we stopped using it years ago.

Memorex is NOT recommended for archival use. It has a thin, black painted top layer rather than the superior diamond coat of Mitsuis. I'm sure it will last 20 years, but 100 years, who knows? I know that Twaiwanese Pro-Disc does not have the quality control of Mitsui or TY and we may get a bad batch in the future. For audio burning in our Masterlinks, its superior in consistency and sound quality to anything else we've tried (and Kevin Gray has tried about everything available in L.A.).

As to playback equipment, Steve Hoffman uses an Sony SCD 777, Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio/RTI/Acoustech) uses a Sony 707esd in the studio and 620es at home and has Proceed D/A converters in the studio, I have most of the mid to late 80's Sonys as well (not stock units and played with reverse polarity, line conditioned and voltage regulated-otherwise mediocre), my friends have the Sony 9000 used as a transport with Proceed and Camelot D/A converters, etc. Steve also uses two Ampex 300s at home. We have custom built audio equipment, including voltage regulated push pull 120 monoblock tube amps, subminiature based line, phono and phono step-up stages and high end analog gear (VPIs mostly and a few Sotas).

It is interesting that since 1999, I have had no bad burns on my computer using TDK/Ritek for office use (preliminary drafts), Mitsui and TY for archival use (photos, reports, data). I've burned about 4,000 discs in the last five years. Before that, I had problems with Memorex and Sonys but it could have been the burners. Now I only use Plextor and Lite-On burners with superb results (and Nero burning software for everything but audio).

P.S. The former HHB Mitsuis and current Quantegy Mitsuis are all similar to Mitsuis. MAM ownership has not changed the factory standards per several retail sources and of course the company denies any quality changes.

I wanted to write my comments to this forum because it is one of the few that mentioned the Memorex discs. We are going to purchase 100s of them and make sure that they are still ProDisc type 9s. Companies like TDK and Memorex change their buyers frequently and you can't trust that each time you buy a spindle it is the same product.
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Postby dolphinius_rex on Wed Apr 21, 2004 8:02 pm

Wow! Some very interesting information there.

I agree with most of what you have said regarding results of various media in high end machinary. Ritek's just don't work on a lot of the higher end stuff, I've never figured out why, and the same with Prodisc. Where I work, we have never tried using black bottomed media, of any sort, so I can't comment on that. As for T.Y.'s I'm surprised that you find them less capable then Mitsui's silver discs, or Memorex of any sort. Our experiences have been that they work on any machine, regardless of speed burned at, or anything else.

Mitsui on the other hand, although still working most of the time, has had a noticable change in quality for us. Now since where I work is both a user of Mitsui media, and a distributor of Mitsui media (we buy direct from MAM-A), it is a problem for us on two fronts. So we have switched almost all of our customers and duplication projects onto Taiyo Yuden CD-R media. Although we still use Mitsui Gold CD-Rs on occasion, since we haven't had as many problems or returns of them as the regular Mitsui Silver media.

As for HHB and Quantegy, although we are also distributors of both, we never have bothered to try their media, as they are even more overpriced then Mitsui, and are simply OEM'ing their discs to companies we already distribute for.
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I agree with you dolphinius_rex; however, ...

Postby Seagoat on Wed Apr 21, 2004 11:00 pm

I tried the Mitsui silver years ago and did not like them for audio compared to TY silver. I have only used Mitsui gold since 1999 for audio until this week's experience with the Prodisc Type 9 Memorex Black Cdr.

Here's the unknown news of today. I just purchased 200 Black Memorex 48X Cdrs at Fry's Electronics for $80 plus tax. A terrific purchase compared to Mitsui gold 80minute spindles of 100 at $90. I just put the first one into my plextor and found that it is not the same as the ones I just used with such fantastic success. Instead a Type 9 Prodisc, it is a Type 6 (still the prefered dye type) CMC Magnetics. As I am writing this, I am burning a CD from my Masterlink. I will soon know if Memorex switch in production has altered my positive results.

I never had a problem burning a TY but sonically they were just not as good for Masterlink dupilication as the gold Mitsui.
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Postby Halc on Thu Apr 22, 2004 2:52 am

Seagoat,

thank you for a very informative answer. I hope you didn't find my inquiry too pressing. I'm merely curious.

I'd be interested in hearing more about your black cd-r experiments and possible differences with type6 vs type9 results as you gain them.

Thanks!
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The answer is .... DON'T TOUCH THE NEW MEMOREX BLACK CDR

Postby Seagoat on Thu Apr 22, 2004 3:24 am

The new CMC Magnetics, Type 6 black Memorex Cdrs do not play in several of my high end CD players. I recorded three CDs from three parts of a spindle of 50. They have a brighter, (digital) sound compared to the Mitsui or the older Memorex Prodisc Type 9 when they played on some other CD players I have (and I have plenty in storage for friends and relatives). Just viewing the recording surface reveals something interesting. The Prodisc is very dark and has a low ruby colored reflection in bright light. The CMD Magnetics has a slightly less dark, pronounced ruby glow in bright light. It is more akin to a dark ruby disc that is dark due to the top layer blocking the light.

I have also located several distributors of the same Type 9 Prodisc black Cds that Memorex sold until the switch (I'm sure because CMC is cheaper).

200 Cdrs are going back to Frys' tomorrow with no regrets.
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Postby dolphinius_rex on Thu Apr 22, 2004 9:38 am

As a suggestion, if you ever see black CD-R media made by Ritek, *run* :wink: It's some of the most poorly made media I've ever seen! Even back when I was a big fan of Ritek, I wouldn't touch their black media.

As for Prodisc black bottomed media, why not just buy the Generic black bottomed CD-Rs instead of going Memorex brand?
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Purchase the Generic Prodisc black cdrs

Postby Seagoat on Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:31 pm

As I previously mentioned, I've found several sites which sell the Prodisc black cdrs for 35 to 45 cents each. That is what I am going to purchase.
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