Marantz CD 63 MKII KI buying advice

Hi all,

I've seen one of these second hand for sale that I'm considering recommending to a friend who is just getting into seperates on a budget. Although I've heard great things about them, I don't know how much is a realistic second hand price to pay. Does anyone out there? Including how much they were new and how old they are? Is it substantially better then the SE version?

I was also going to recommend a Cambridge Audio CD4SE as I have one of these and they sound great for the money (IMO). Do any of you have opinions on how they compare?

thanks all,
wolf

 

I've not been fussed with the overhype of the Marantz players, they're not too bad but I'd swing more towards the Cambridge...

I owed the CD17 Ki Sig and this was very underwhelming and over hyped. Also owend a CD67 SE. For the 63 it has more of a cult following and would probably fetch around 100- 150. I suggest you look for a Pioneer PD-S505 Precision if you can find one.

 

I am in the cult !

They are going to be at least 5 years old now, maybe even more.

The orginal limited run of 500 KI players has a plastic signature badge under the CD drawer, these were £500. The later versions had the gold looking plate, these were £400.

£100-150 sound right, they rose in price two years ago when the announcement of the DP modification.

Personally I think it is a sh1t hot player.

 

hi all, thanks so much for that. well firstly she's not an 'audiophile' and wants something decent and good value (to go with a cambridge A1 amp and bookshelf heybrooks, so doesn't need to be too amazing). the CD4SE's seem to be getting rarer and are going for silly money on ebay, although i love mine and can understand why.

 

Only 2500 CD4se were made and they're written about all over over the 'net so it's little wonder they're so expensive. The Isomagic DAC is in the same situation but, then again, how much is it going to cost to buy any other player designed by John Westlake? (Pink Triangle)
The rather different CD4 gets quite good prices on Ebay too. I've often wondered if people wrongly believe that the two players are similar?
The Cambridge 500SE got good reviews so could be a consideration although I haven't seen many of those on Ebay of late.

Another consideration is servicability. The CD4se is horrible to work on due to the surface mount components and fiddly ribbon cable on the laser.
The Marantz and CD4se use the same Philips laser that is available for ~£16. So both should last a good while yet.

Martin.

 

I have a Marantz CD 63 SE and I wouldnt recommend it to anyone who likes to listen to music. My Vinyl collection sounds way better, played on an average ancient (30+year young) LP12 than any of my CDs. My computer makes more music on a good Flac download. I'm sorry to say that whatever the marantz does to the music it is not to my taste!! It is, however, cheap and reliable. Incidentally I play it through a NOS DAC to try and improve things but alas for music to listen to I prefer my vinyl collection.

 

How insteresting. Being a pink triangle owner I've often wondered who else was part of the company apart from Arthur. I knew they had some behind the scenes input into the CD4SE, but wasn't sure what.

Thanks for that.

 

I'm modding my CD4se at the mo. I would love to be in your position and able to test the Cambridge against the PT. Obviously some cost cutting was employed with the CD4se but maybe, if I can overcome these limitaions, it might be a fairer comparison. The CD4se doesn't seem so good on paper with the opamps and DAC used but somehow manages something great.
The last one went for £150 on Ebay!

 

Get a Marantz CD 63 SE. With a few minor mods described at TNT Audio they can be made superior to Marantz KI models. I did this four years ago. It was later replaced with an Arcam CD93T but I still use it in a holiday home.

 

The 63/67 Marantz do respond really well to tweaks but i found my ki to sound glassy and harsh with a soft bass before i did anything to it... in fact i preferred the sound of a Nad 521i with new opamps!
The cd4se's probably the better bet if she doesn't want to remove/replace components but the cd63se/ki can be made to sound fantastic with a little work and a little money(d*yaudio have a thread on cd63 mods running at over 500 pages long which helped me out no end).

150 quid sounds fair for either machine in good nick. That's around the price i paid for mine.

 

Have a look at the CD63/CD63SE - DATA SHEET with informative links that I prepared sometime ago.
http://www.gbaudio.co.uk/data/cd63.htm#GB

CDPs in the Marantz CD63/67 family also has excellent transport mechanisms. They work well with inexpensive DACs such as the M-Audio Super DAC. For sound quality comparable to CDPs in the £1000+ region, add a Monarchy Audio DIP 48/96 Upsampler, good cables and interconnects.

 

john westlake is gearing for production of a new cd player and dac, you get on a testing/purchas list over on diyaudio.com in the digital section.

he's been upgrading cd4se's and the like for punters lately, but as he'sin China the service isn't fast.

 

Could we have a bake off with all the different CD63's !

The original 63, personally modified 63/SE/KI's, 63/SE 63/SE/KI and 63/SE/KI/DP !

With all the different versions I think it would take all weekend !

 

John Westlake is a smart cookie!
He was the brains behind the Pink Triangle DAC. Later went on to design the innovative Isomagic S700 slim-line isolation platform with a built in DAC. He also designed the Cambridge Audio Dacmagic DAC. It worked well with Marantz CD63SE. A review and test of this combo is at
http://202.186.86.35/audio/story.asp?file=/1996/5/05dac

With his Chinese contacts, he should be able design and produce top quality stuff at attractive prices. Hopefully he will partner with someone to get the marketing right.

 

What a great forum this is! I knew the CD4SE was special and an audio bargain but not why. and now I do. Pure coincidence that it sits alongside an LPT of course, it's like having John and Arthur sat side-by-side in the living room! They seem to get on ok but come from very different perspectives.....

ps. just looked at the diyaudio.com pages on this cd player. Wow. Five pages of pure insight.