Fusion CA-CD500 CD Tuner with iPod control

30th April 2009 Adam Rayner

CD Tuner made for the world market with rear USB connection for iPod use and control. Two rotary controls, one with joystick function, give you full access to iPod via all the normal Artist, Play list, Genre, Song etc routes. Supplied with iPod connection lead and remote control (although the sample unit had no remote present) and two plug assemblies. One is the unit-to-ISO lead assembly and the other bears a collection of RCA plugs. There are stereo front and rear and a mono subwoofer output as well as a stereo Aux input and another stereo input marked ‘XM’ although the unit is a UK sold item. (Hence one world-market specification.) The front is motorised and has a blue scale monochrome OLED dot display with animations and a full HMI display system to take you through all the possible adjustments. The unit has SRS sound shaping and a set of highpass and lowpass filters as well a subwoofer crossover that can be set in notches as per the spec below. A built in equaliser has three customisable user presets as well as its own selection.
– 4 x 50w (MOSFET Power IC)
– Motorised three-step removable faceplate with hard case
– Full Dot Organic Electro-Luminescent display (OLED)
– iPod USB Direct Connection with supplied cable
– Control via rotary and rotary/joystick
– CD/CD-R/CD-RW/MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG playback
– Electronic skip protection
– 2 Stereo RCA line out
– 1 RCA sub Out
– 1 Stereo Auxiliary input on RCA
– 1 Stereo ‘XM’ input for USA market on RCA
– Low pass (80Hz/120Hz/160Hz) and High pass filter (90Hz/135Hz/180Hz/215Hz) and subwoofer control
– Bass, Mid & Treble controls
– Seven band EQ with fourteen presets; eleven factory and three customisable
– SRS Wow sound shaping
– Security code
– White or Blue button illumination
– AM/FM Tuner
– Wireless remote control supplied
– Signal to Noise Ratio and Dynamic range not quoted
Review by Adam Rayner
Interestingly, the preproddy unit I was sent had a display source option that said ‘DAB’ and on the back had an extra pair of stereo RCAs labelled ‘XM’, which is the satellite radio system the Americans use whereas we have digital radio or DAB. I could only raise CD and Tuner functions until I poshed the iPod onto the end of the supplied connection USB wire. I must get the OEL (or OLED) display dealt with first. For a madly low price, you get a monochrome blue scale display that absolutely kicks ass.
It has a slew of clever and intuitive interface functions but stuff all that, you want to know about the ï¿½ber cool screen saver animations donï¿½t you? It starts in space and we zoom into planet Earth as a satellite floats by. As we go down from orbit and over the surface, the worldï¿½s main landmarks pass beneath in fabulous swelling 3D renderings: The Arc De Triomphe, followed by the Easter Island standing faces, then Sydney Opera House, a German Schloss, the Eiffel Tower, the Sphinx and the Pyramids, Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty and the Taj Mahal. Then the satellite zooms out from Earth and you get a big compass forming with a Bugatti Veyron appearing like a CGI transformer in the middle that then zooms off through a Californian cityscape on an elevated carriageway before it evolves and morphs into a boulevard with palm trees! A biplane, a tall masted sailing ship and a hot air balloon also feature.
Brilliant and quite bonkers value for £180.
I found the iPod control to be as brilliantly simple as the poor Blaupunkt I tried recently was obfuscatory and hard to fathom. You press go and the bit you selected with the two twiddlers starts up. If you are navigating from one album to another way distant, the scrolling text starts up before the music starts and you do seem to lose the first few seconds. I tried it again and did a track restart to see if I could find the proper track beginning and sure enough, it started right on the double horn-blast of Thos Dolbyï¿½s ï¿½Hyperactiveï¿½. (As definite a ï¿½start pointï¿½ as youï¿½ll find.) Cranked good and loud, I could overcome the dose of display noise that was coming through the electronics (this is not a feature of production units) yet still found the dynamics a tad limited versus the cream of the more costly SQ-first decks from the big Japanese brands.
But thatï¿½s to miss the point. I know for a fact that the UK product manager of Fusion got a fabulously early Pioneer OEL headunit and loved it with a passion. OEL is what we used to call OLED and it is so sexy that the SONY OLED TV made world news when it was launched at the CES recently. It is the sexiest display technology of all and itï¿½s here at this price, with a Pixar grade level of cool in the way it is used to make animations.
What’s not to love?
I just want to see the Fusion Aliens in there and they need to be a proper character. Designed rather than derived from the funny inflatables they have used. They can keep the inflatables but we need to have an actual Alien we can meet on our headunit screens. (Besides, I need it for the Fusion sponsored cartoon we have just started running here on Talk Audioï¿½s front page.) How about it flies nearby Earth in its saucer as we zoom out of orbit ï¿½ getting close and personal through the window of the craft as it goes past?
The ability of the deck is the point. I had to go look up OGG Files as it can read these, too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg. I gather it’s an open source geeky thing, so will fit right in with the harder core PC element of the Talk Audio community.
It’s smart and sassy and even with the horrid cash increases in costs, represents absolutely nutty value for money. If you want a fun deck that reads just about everything, genuinely gives you full bossage of the Apple in the glove box and be a great fun thing to own and show off, then this really has to be a contender.
Sound Quality 7.0
Appearance/Display 9.0
Ease Of Use/HMI 9.0
Features 7.0
Value For Money 9.0
Overall rating 8.2