Optoelectronic age from Philips 1979

Step back in time to the world of early digital audio! This rare Japanese Philips brochure from 1979 is one of the first Philips brochures which features a development model of the CD player: Pinkeltje. This brochure is a unique piece of technology history, providing insight into the development and early days of CD players.

Optoelectonic age Philips Pinkeltje

The 11.5cm is equivalent to both sides of a 30cm LP record.

Optical sound player with super characteristics of 85 dB S/N.

The sound disc achieves high-fidelity reproduction by irradiating a laser beam onto the disc surface, which is engraved with billions of single pits. The reflected rays are converted into electrical signals and their digital output is transmitted to a digital-analogue converter. There, it is returned to the original electrical signal and, after passing through a filter, becomes an audio signal. Therefore, by simply connecting the compact disc player directly to the phono input of an amplifier, you can enjoy stereo music that far surpasses the characteristics of conventional analogue players.

Optoelectonic age Philips Pinkeltje

The compact disc is coated with a reflective aluminium protective coating of reflective aluminium foil, so unlike conventional LP vinyl discs, they are free from dust, fingerprints and scratches. Neither the disc nor the pick-up side will suffer any abrasion, so the original sound quality will not be lost and you can enjoy semi-permanent high-fidelity playback.

Furthermore, the pocket size of 11.5 cm makes it a revolutionary product that will drastically change the concept of disc playback to date.

List of compact disc specifications

Disc

  • Diameter: 115 mm
  • Thickness: 1.Imm
  • Rotation speed: 500~215rpm
  • Track pitch: 1.66 um
  • Recording time .: 60 min, stereo, single-sided recording
  • Material: Polyvinyl chloride

Player

  • Playback method: PCM, 2 channels
  • Frequency response: 20Hz~ 20kHz
  • Dynamic Range.: 85dB
  • SN ratio: 85dB min.
  • Harmonic distortion: 0.05% or less
  • Wow flutter: Crystal oscillator accuracy
  • Quantisation: 14-bit linear
  • Dropout compensation: Yes
  • Sampling frequency: 44.3 kHz
Optoelectonic age Philips Pinkeltje