The Humble Wall Mounted CD Jukebox

[DRD]

I never really saw the point of these things, until I went to three Christmas house parties in the space of a fortnight. These with the visible cd player are almost the bottom end of the jukebox world. Old tech. Totally redundant. 80kg of Germanic engineering. The real bottom end are the ones with wall mounted controls but an ugly mdf box containing the cd mech that you hide under the stairs or whatever.

Party 1 had a laptop wirelessly connected to bluetooth speakers. Folk crowded round the damned laptop. Songs got repeated if noone changed them. Chopped and changed. Crap speakers. All pretty crap.

Party 2 had a streaming service and sonos type speakers spread over two rooms. But as we live in a village it kept playing up. Kept dropping the signal. The walls of the old cottage were quite thick so there were various signal issues from time to time. The house owner kept messing about with his iPad. Again pretty crap.

Party 3 had a 90s cd wall mounted jukebox with speakers spread over two rooms. 100 CDs, the owner knew his music so there was no crap on there. His guests chose tracks from his own music. Worked flawlessly. Folk strolled up, played around with it for a minute or two. No crowding around a laptop or ipad. No hogging the music. All very civilised. Folk picked a couple of tunes, moved on happy. After a while their tunes came on. Whiff of 90s nostalgia. Played background music until someone selected a song. No repeats. No wifi, bluetooth type issues. Good quality sound out of proper speakers

I have also had folk at my own house messing with my ipad, calling up stuff on youtube when it is plugged into an amp. So you get the adverts, chopping and changing, folk fighting over the ipad to control the tunes etc etc

Made me think about getting a cd wall mount jukebox myself. These things go for £300 plus as workers. Dealers try to get £750. £350 to £450 seems to be the real price level for them.

@mark9 has a couple for sale as he used to operate them in pubs. Everyone wants internet jukeboxes now, so pubs no longer want cd versions.

They aren't gorgeous Seeburgs from the 1960s. But they sound better. Work better. Take up less space. Have 10 to 20 times the music on them. And they cost 10 per cent of the price.

Maybe they will go up in value. But for this sort of money, whatever will be will be. They are not e-type jags or air cooled 911s. More like a 205 gti. Or escort cosworth sort of thing. Few thought that 1980s hot hatches with their wide boy owners, trashed and smashed histories .... would become collectible, but the prices eventually rocketed

 

[ronnie63]

These are great jukeboxes! But there are 3 tech types and that relates to the price cheaper being the older ES5 then ES5.1 to ES6 The older having a slower (but still fast) changer. I still have one the same as yours with ES5.1 and 2 of the newer ES6. Very reliable which ever version you get and sound amazing!

Ronnie

 

[DRD]

Is there a normal height to mount these off the floor pls?

 

[ronnie63]

Not really, I have a stand, could measure the height of that if it helps?

 

[DRD]

Hi. If it is quick and easy to do. Yes pls, but do not trouble yourself otherwise. I think the stands are 32 inches tall. So Base of juke is 32"

I am putting her up now

OCD and all that

 

[Cmor111]

I've also got mine on a stand, easier to move if needed and no worries of it falling off the wall.

Unfortunately the glass in the base doesn't match the jukebox but you can't have everything.

 

[ronnie63]

I've also got mine on a stand, easier to move if needed and no worries of it falling off the wall.

Unfortunately the glass in the base doesn't match the jukebox but you can't have everything.

Picture Chris or it aint true! did you get it fixed?

 

[Cmor111]

It's true, with run dmd clock to the left.

No not fixed yet, tried cleaning but looks like it needs replace, but once done it should last for ages.

It's not full still got about 20 discs to go but once done it's not much work to change out the odd disc or two once it's full.

 

[Cryptkeeper]

When mine was working on CDs it had one annoying programming qurk

Person A puts on CD # 150 track 5
Person B puts on CD # 130 track 5
Person C puts on CD # 160 track 5

Because the carousel only spun one way it would stop at the next selection in order of CD not the order that people had chosen.
So it would play person As song then person C then person B,

Didnt take long for my mates to figure this out so they would always skip the que and pick a song off the next album!
So basicly if you picked a song off the early CDs they might not come on for hours!

 

[ronnie63]

Looks nice, much more work to add the titles and art!

My stand is 34" off the ground

This is the stand I have

 

[Cmor111]

Looks nice, much more work to add the titles and art!

My stand is 34" off the ground

This is the stand I have

View attachment 41813

I like the one on the left of that one!

 

[ronnie63]

I like the one on the left of that one!

That was just a pic from google not mine

 

[Jay Walker]

When mine was working on CDs it had one annoying programming qurk

Person A puts on CD # 150 track 5
Person B puts on CD # 130 track 5
Person C puts on CD # 160 track 5

Because the carousel only spun one way it would stop at the next selection in order of CD not the order that people had chosen.
So it would play person As song then person C then person B,

Didnt take long for my mates to figure this out so they would always skip the que and pick a song off the next album!
So basicly if you picked a song off the early CDs they might not come on for hours!

The NSM machines had options for order of play; FIFO (First In, First Out), Random and maybe another which I don't recall.

When that 50-slide content display unit first came out, it was prone to jamming, and I still recall rows with the collectors who changed the discs & labels, over not securing the labels. I preferred the earlier 'flip-chart' unit; the ES-IV machines fitted with it even had an illuminated button marked 'Flip'.

 

[DanLewell]

I might have to get one of these.

My Missus is always moaning that she cant play her CDs. We've got a CD player under the stairs linked to the speakers everywhere but its a PITA to get to as there's always crap in the way. Most of her CDs are in a box from when we moved still (5 years ago - so she's not that desperate to play them!!) but this would look alright in the games room and keep her happy. Win - Win.

so where do I go to get one? I'm guessing ebay will be a minefield like it is for pins.

 

[ronnie63]

I might have to get one of these.

My Missus is always moaning that she cant play her CDs. We've got a CD player under the stairs linked to the speakers everywhere but its a PITA to get to as there's always crap in the way. Most of her CDs are in a box from when we moved still (5 years ago - so she's not that desperate to play them!!) but this would look alright in the games room and keep her happy. Win - Win.

so where do I go to get one? I'm guessing ebay will be a minefield like it is for pins.

Don't forget it's a pita to print all the title strips and cut and fit them in the slider unit! I could sort you one out but I guess you best try and find one local to you

 

[mark9]

The NSM machines had options for order of play; FIFO (First In, First Out), Random and maybe another which I don't recall.

When that 50-slide content display unit first came out, it was prone to jamming, and I still recall rows with the collectors who changed the discs & labels, over not securing the labels. I preferred the earlier 'flip-chart' unit; machines fitted with it even had an illuminated button marked 'Flip'.

Yes I had this problem too, landlords putting their own labels on, if they put CD booklets in or didn't make sure the acetate sleeves were properly secured under the tabs, or sleeves the wrong way round with the flimsy side on the outside etc, they would jam sometimes at the back which means taking at least half of them out, a real pain.

 

[mark9]

I might have to get one of these.

My Missus is always moaning that she cant play her CDs. We've got a CD player under the stairs linked to the speakers everywhere but its a PITA to get to as there's always crap in the way. Most of her CDs are in a box from when we moved still (5 years ago - so she's not that desperate to play them!!) but this would look alright in the games room and keep her happy. Win - Win.

so where do I go to get one? I'm guessing ebay will be a minefield like it is for pins.

I'm not too far away if you want to have a look. I've still got a Heritage and a Wizard.

 

[cooldan]

I might have to get one of these.

My Missus is always moaning that she cant play her CDs. We've got a CD player under the stairs linked to the speakers everywhere but its a PITA to get to as there's always crap in the way. Most of her CDs are in a box from when we moved still (5 years ago - so she's not that desperate to play them!!) but this would look alright in the games room and keep her happy. Win - Win.

so where do I go to get one? I'm guessing ebay will be a minefield like it is for pins.

Me too.

 

[JT.]

I might have to get one of these.

My Missus is always moaning that she cant play her CDs. We've got a CD player under the stairs linked to the speakers everywhere but its a PITA to get to as there's always crap in the way. Most of her CDs are in a box from when we moved still (5 years ago - so she's not that desperate to play them!!) but this would look alright in the games room and keep her happy. Win - Win.

so where do I go to get one? I'm guessing ebay will be a minefield like it is for pins.

Maybe here - seems to be the closest thing to a UK forum: https://beta.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/bjoforum/info

 

[DRD]

Bit of an update...

These things are seriously heavy, 80kg or so. I slid it out of the car onto my hydraulic pinball trolley so I could move it solo.

You put a substantial OEM metal bracket on the wall. I used very substantial frame fixings that required 11mm holes in my masonry wall. This bracket has 4 U shaped channels that the jukebox hangs on.



My home bar is some months off. So it is temporarily in our lounge. I elevated it into place using my hydraulic trolley, so I could do this solo. Otherwise this would definitely be a two man job, and probably quite an unpleasant one. A bolt inside the jukebox then attaches this to the frame to prevent folk lifting it off the wall.



The wife really likes it. She had some girlfriends over and they all loved it. My mates also love it. Folk just like walking up to the thing, playing with it, choosing some tunes.

For the first time in ages we are listening to uncompressed music played through a proper amplifier as opposed to MP3/ ipad/ wireless speakers/ car stereo etc etc. I have connected these 1980s sony APM speakers which will go to disco levels when you are drunk enough. Nice big cabinets so plenty of bass



Filling the jukebox is a MASSIVE undertaking. I have settled on ...

TRACKLISTS
Stick the disc into my pc
Let apple iTunes get the tracks - copy these
Put into word to delete the superfluous info
Put into powerpoint into carefully sized text boxes using a narrow font that means I can get about 25 lines of text. This manages artists and songs on compilation CDs
Print out 5 per sheet of A4
Cut them out with a scalpel

ARTWORK
Colour photocopy onto photo paper where I have the cd cover
Where I do not have one ... Copy a hi res image from the net
Put into powerpoint
Size
Print out 2 per sheet of A4 photo paper
Cut them out with a scalpel

You then put the two pieces into a plastic sleeve and insert this into the jukebox

Where I have albums with just a few good songs, I am using iTunes to create little compilation CDs and I do the art per the above photo of the jukebox. With greatest hits type CDs I have generally condensed the two discs down to one - no point having 2 CDs taken out with 2 x 44 minute albums when a single CD will take about 80 minutes of music. I do not want just to fill it for the sake of filling it.

I want a good range of decent songs that will actually get played. The jukebox has a background music option that plays random tracks when none are selected by punters. So I do not want random crap/ album fillers coming on

Loading really is a painful process. I would estimate about 10 minutes per CD to do the sleeves, mess about with tracks, burn CD and load into the machine. With 100 CDs this is maybe around 20 hours in total. But once done that will be it save pulling the odd disc now and again when it is not getting played or something better comes along

These things are quite like pinballs really .... boards, ribbon cables, heavy, nicotine stains, dirt that interferes with the mechs, menu driven options controlled by too few buttons, generate a lot of heat. I have had minor niggles - like cleaning out the keypad mech as this had decades of nicotine on the electrical contacts. There are a number of guys selling spares. It seems to be a breakers market - where guys part out machines, flog boards for 20 quid or so. Backglasses. Mechs etc etc



@mark9 had given mine a thorough clean before I picked it up and has been able to sort out a couple of queries for me over the phone

We like it so much that we are actually considering leaving it in the lounge and getting a second one for the home bar

 

[DanLewell]

I'm not sure I've got your patience David, if I get one, it is definitely going to be her job to sort the labels out...

Is it just phono connections on the back to feed an amp or has it got an amp built in and speaker connections on the back?

 

[DRD]

I tend to over-engineer things with a long lifespan. Whatever time I put into this, I will probably be using it in 20 years time all being well so I do not mind too much.

It has a powerful on-board amp. There are a few holes in the back of the thing to pass cables through. You can connect more than one pair of speakers. It does not have a "balance" like a normal amp but has separate volumes for left and right channels. So if you put speakers in two rooms you would use the right channel with a couple of speakers attached for one room and the left channel with a couple of speakers attached for the other. You connect the speakers to it via screw down terminals inside the jukebox.....



It has this external volume control .....



And it also has a volume control and track rejection button just under the front panel of the jukebox. This can be disconnected if you do not want folk messing about

The KEY thing for me in a party scenario is to play the tracks through without folk cancelling them or repeating them which seems to happen all too often at folks' houses these days.

 

[Jay Walker]

We like it so much that we are actually considering leaving it in the lounge and getting a second one for the home bar

If you don't want to source/create another set of discs, a 'slave' box, without the player, could be connected to this one. Quite often, a location would have the main 'box in one bar and a slave 'box in the other.

There was provision for a wireless remote control, though I never actually saw it fitted.

 

[DRD]

thanks for the suggestions

Duplicating the CDs will not be too bad. It would take ages but it is a passive activity really, the sort of thing you could do whilst watching TV. Open iTunes. Put CD into PC. The PC ejects it when it is downloaded. Rinse and repeat 99 times

Burning them is a similar sort of thing

I am keeping the powerpoint file with all the CD art and track listings I have created in case I need to do this job again

You can see why these things died a rapid death when the internet/ hard drive boxes came out with LCD touch screens

If folk are not fussy about music, but want a jukebox on the wall. It would make sense to buy one with the songs already loaded. Maybe change the discs to your own over the space of a year or so