A £500 Cdp?

Hello everyone, after some lurking I've decided to come out of closet - this is my first post here !

After a long winter sleep, I'd love to upgrade from an old Marantz CD67 to a £500 player

Currently I'm considering:

Rega Apollo

Naim 5i (used)

Cambridge 640V2

AAA5

E5 (used)

.............


I'm mainly into alternative rock, roots, world music, 60s / 70s rock & jazz. I appreciate a natural reproduction with some warmth, involvement & emotion. I hate cold & analytical sound.

It would be great if it would sound as vinyl just without distortion and pops&clicks. My Marantz lacks emotion and sounds too artificial.

My nearest decent dealer is more than 50 miles from me therefore I need to have a pretty strong idea what I need.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Lautrec

 

AAA5 for me. Heard nothing that touches it, but someone will be along in a minute to suggest something else! It's what I use

 

A little more than a minute ...but....The Avondale (IMO, I hasten to add) is a great dynamic player but a little cold and analytical for me. The E5 is worthy of its "giant killer" status and can be had for 300 - 350 2nd hand, if you can find one. I quite like the 5i - but it doesn't dig up as much detail as the AAA5, I don't think
You could (shameless plug....) buy my Shanling CD 100 Mk2 - see www.harmonia-audio.com/products/cd/shanlingcds100.html
for £225 - although not as terrific as the E5 it's almost there.

 

If it were my £ 500 , I'd be down the Rega dealer and pick
up the Apollo , I listened to it recently against the Naim CD5i
and the Naim came out second best .

The Apollo has class A output which gives it a warm natural
sound .

Naim always sounds " forced " to my ears .

 

I am putting a black Rega Apollo on ebay this Thursday starting at £325. I have owned it for six months but it has been used for less than 10 hours. I have a highly modified Arcam Alpha 5+ that I prefer.

 

Is AA5+ modified by Les?

Can you provide more on how Apollo and AA5+ differ?

 

Hello, I've been using a Marantz CD 63 Mkii KI Signature for several years. Killer sound for the price (was £500 new).
If I was going to buy a new player for around £500 I'd probably go for the new KI Sig. (seen on internet at below £550)
I'm currently using my elderley machine through McIntosh amps and the dynamics, detail and soundstage are quite honestly awesome.
Marantz is well worth the audition, but only the Ken Ishiwata models.

 

No it is not modified by Les at Avondale. I haven't heard a AAA5+ but I think that the sound will be similar to mine.

My modded 5+ majors on impact and "pace, rhythm and timing" but with lots of tonal colour. The Apollo majors on detail and soundstage; I just found it a little too laidback for my tastes. However, I am certain that many people would prefer the Apollo.

 

In case Mr. Les Avondale is reading this forum (or someone else knows the answer), does a £375 upgrade of a donor player also include a service of laser mech or not?

I am wondering if such an investment in upgrade otherwise would make sense (what if laser suddenly dies a little later...)?

And how long does 9/44 last at all? Any reliability issues?

 

I've recently compared my AA5z [as I suppose we can call i.j.russels too, as I did the mods] to the AAA5 ...

I was very surprised that my player was the equal of the AAA5 ...yes they sounded different but ....IMO the AAA5 sounded rather pedestrian [not nessesarily a bad thing] against mine which is more up and at them. The AAA5 of my friend who shall for obvious reasons remain nameless asked if I could do anything to help his unit.... looking in his bit box we found some opa 637 opamps I suggested that these might be good in the final output stage replacing what ever les had fitted.
The new sound with the opa637 straight from the off just bought a smile to his face ....which really says it all. This appears to have addressed some of his "problems" elsewhere in his system.

That said I think the AAA5 is a terrific player you'll need to spend £2k to get better ...if you can only get an AA5 you must get it modded as the beast can really sing !

 

Les will give you a 4 year guarantee on all the parts I believe

 

An E5 is £440 new, delivered (if you don't pay tax; declared value is $100 I think?). It sounds good to my ears, only compared a KI CD63 but flu has put paid to any "serious" listening.

 

The E5 is amazing - I sold mine to a 'pink fisher' after an extended head to head listening with an AAA5 - both retrieved all the detail you could wish for but the E5 had the edge as far as listenability was concerned - I know it's hard to believe but the AAA5 sounded almost harsh by comparison.

 

new Cd player

Hi there, I will shortly be selling my Marantz CD17 Mark2(black).It's unmarked and comes with original box and manual.Would you be interested? It has a really smooth, non-digital sound, and digs out all the detail on CDs. I use it with Creek amplification(passive pre-amp and 2 power amps). Priced around £360 (c.f. silly dealer prices). A demo is possible.

 

There is a Rega Planet in the WigWam for £150, Buy that and let Zanash have a play with it for the remaining £350 reckon that would be a giant killer.

 

the e5 is good......jimbo has one

but its not an aa5 !

 

the rega's are good but theres not a huge amount to tweak ....thats why they sound good, rega has pushed the basic unit a long way..

but you could squeeze a bit more from one with a little effort...

I'd still be tempted to go e5 if you looking for new or aa5 if secondhand is acceptable.

 

Hi there, please ignore my earlier blabberings, I was obviously drunk.
Of the machines you listed I would choose the E5. Which amps and speakers are you using?

 

Could it be that a AAA5 is rather coloured in comparison with Apollo and others mentioned here.

I've heard such a comment from a previous user (who actually liked a player a lot and upgraded to Avondaled Naim CD).

It's frequently compared to a LP12 sound from the 80s - not the most accurate AFAIR?

 

I have heard both the AAA5 and the ACD3 at Les's and both very good with Les's amplification. The AAA5 had a grainy sound compared to the ACD3 which was very smooth and didnt seem to have any noise. I did order one but with the wait and being let down a few times i canceled the order. Eventually i went for the E5 which i think has a cleaner sound than the AAA5 but obviously the CD3 is much better just for that silky smooth sound. I think you could turn the volume up and it still wouldnt shout at you.
Perhaps with some heavy modding to the E5 i could get fairly close to the ACD3 but not heard a lot from people who has had a go yet. One issue with the E5 is the transport as mine needed a new one after about 4 months. Jim.