Have you considered the Ayre/Esoteric - never heard them but people I have spoken to speak highly of them (is it the 7xe Ayre - seen for aorund £1300 2nd hand and £2k new).
A bit from left field and probably too cheap but the Rega Saturn at c.£1300 is meant to be very musical (I had the Apollo at £500) and thought that was very good.
Something to bear in mind - especially when looking at older players - is that CDR is strictly outside the formal CD specifications. Most of the time it isn't an issue, but some players won't look at them (early ML39s being an example).
Hi Dick,
Thank's for mentioning the CDR (in)ability. I would never have thought of that because I never feed my transport with home made copies...
Cheers,
Ricardo