s/h CD Player?

Ok so I've got my amp...A400gte.....got some speeks and stands...EPOS ES11....and as predicted by you esteemed gentlemen, my sansui CD player is showing its frailties through this revealing setup.
Conclusion I've reached is that I'll need a player to warm things up a little bit whilst still maintaining that detail. I'm looking at doing it for less than £150, so what your thoughts?
HM

 

Hyperfi are doing end of line NAD 541i for that money. I'm on a mission for a sub-ton CD player for my son, and rang them up about the straight 541 (out of stock), so I know they have the 541i in stock.

 

Thanks midlife, however I don't get any joy searching for NAD on hyperfi.com.
How about these 2nd handers....any good?
Marantz CD50SE £75
CD52SEMK11 £45
CD63SE £75
CD72 £100

NAD5440 £80

 

You have to phone up Hyperfi - the NAd's not on their site, which is basically just PDF'd brochures. Of the secondhand stuff you list, the 63SE had a good reputation and seems a decent price, dependent on how old / worn it is..

 

Try and get a Rotel. They make some excellent players that to these ears wipe teh floor with the Marantz's.

Cheers

Jason

 

A CD 82 or one of the older Arcam Alphas would be nice I reckon.

 

Choose first!

All these responses are good advice and the C63II SE is a steal at that price.

However, will you like it? Will it synergise? (Work to take advantage of the good aspects of your current kit)

I don't like the new Arcam CD sound but the old one may be better and right up your street with your Epos.

Narrow your choice from the advice to the option applicable for your tastes. The Rotel do very musical things especially the old RCD-965BX. The Marantz are usually kind, fulsome, sweeter than the competion in the top end and inoffensive to a fault if you like that.
TEAC should also be considered

 

The chaps at hifichoice seem to be swaying towards the Rotel RCD971. Would that give me a bit of warmth for those winter nights, and how much would I expect to pay for one of them?
HM

 

Re: Choose first!

I had a 965BX. It was good sounding, for its day, and as tough as old boots. My son as a toddler decided to clean it with bleach (we always encouraged him to play with heavy chemicals...), which stained the fascia. Thinking I ought to make sure of an insurance write off I poured some more bleach inside and took it to a dealer to get a 'no hope' letter for the insurers. However, the bugger cleaned it out and it worked fine in my spare system for another 5 or 6 years till I sold it.

 

Shame about the tacky drawers on the older Rotel CDPs - that's the one thing I clearly remember about the 965 - effing amazing sound, effing amazingly bad feel and build to that horrid drawer...

Queen's "Keep yourself alive" on that, MF(really!!) The Preamp/Typhoon and Cyrus speakers is one of my first baptisms of fire in real hifi at a dealers, and it's one of the most rocky sounds I've ever heard - those older MF amps were bloody great! My mate bought the system (barring the Rotel) and then got a second Typhoon and Kef Q30s, and the system was dynamite!

The A400/ES11s combo will be VERY difficult to find a good CD player for for even £150 second hand - they DEMAND quality. The ES11s are some of the most revealing (in midrange at least!) speakers there are - almost as finnicky as my ES14s, which my Rega Planet sounded grainy and coarse through. I gave up on the '14s and leant them to a mate... Due to get them back soon it would seem. So mummy, can I have a NAP250 to drive them please!?

 

Try looking on Ebay - there are many bargains to be had Around yhis sort of price - Try Arcam/Nad/Rotel but my favourite would be a Marantz 63II-KI (usually go for around £170) which is markedly better than the regular 63SE (I've owned both!)

All the best, Liam.

 

Dom....ouch! think thats out of the question on my budget. The dodgy sansui isn't unlistanable at the moment so I'm sure anything will be an improvement and will bring me listening pleasure without having to start considering Naim. So if my A400 and Epos are so demanding, what can I feed them that will appease them and me?

 

Go offboard?

You could always keep the Sansui and go for the option of a second hand DAC.
I've no idea about your Sansui but the Meridian 203 DAC will go well with your 400 and Epos. they can be had for about a ton leaving you cash for a decent digital interconnect and still change left over from £150. A 263 is slightly more.
And being a Boothroyd Stuart production you'll get as much for it when you upgrade. Nice looking too.

Other best option is DPA. 'Little Bits' are very good VFM second hand and about this price. Good mid-band for your Epos.

 

On similar theme, Richer Sounds are doing Marantz cd5400, Cambridge Audio models cd36 and cd5 all for just under £100. Anyone know if any of these are any good (to complete my son's Arcam Delta + mercury MX1 rig) - are the CA models built down to this price for Richer, ie budget models from the start, or older but better models that have been discounted ?

 

Cheers for advice guys....think my best bet is to get one of the CD players suggested and see how it sounds. If its duff I'll then keep an eye out for some Tannoy speakers to go with it. Seems i've put myself in a tricky position by going for the Epos with the A400 so I guess I could go for a more sensible choice with the speakers where cheap source won't show up so much. Anyway...we'll see how the new cd player sounds and hopefully it will all turn out nice!

 

Re: Go offboard?

What he said Bear in mind Meridian can be serviced; ask Robbo if DPA kit can (sorry Robbo!)

A second hand Rega Planet'll work well with the stuff you've got - I'd not say you've "put myself in a tricky position" with the amp/speakers combo - just got a nice revealing slab of halfway decent hifi. Thanfully you're not going to try to mate that with a cheapo turntable Chalkboard/nails anyone???

 

Cheers Dom, you reckon the DAC idea might be a goer too? TBH I was trying to avoid that...mainly cus I'd never heard of a DAC until a couple of weeks ago. Is it just a 'processor' that alters the signal from the CD player? and do I need a digital out from my CD player?
I'll look out for a Rega too.

Funny you should mention that! I have a cheap NAD TT that i got off ebay attached at the moment...actually sounds ok though. Was listening to BDB's About A Boy soundtrack on it last night and it sounded good....to me!

 

Ah - there's cheap, and then there's NAD and Project Some cheap turntables are OK Is that the NAD with the funny floppy arm and weird lid, or the one that has an MDF platter, like the Rega 2 (I have the latter NAD and it's fairly damn good!).

All CD *players* have DACs in them - you'd hear no audio otherwise. An offboard (seperate) DAC can upgrade older players, but you definitely need digital out One reason I never bought a Naim player (barring cost!) until recently. Since I use a PC to copy, err, make firesafe backups, no digi out doesn't bother me, as I have to use analog when making comps or I can't dub from my edited Minidisc master to my Pioneer CDR

But I digress. Yeah - if the Sansui has a digi out and still works, the most cost effective upgrade is likely a second hand DAC (don't forget about £40+ for a digital interconnect).

 

My NAD is a 5120...from about 94 I think. Has a real thick rubber mat on the platter...kind of Mad Max styling! Which is the reason i got it off ebay at the time. Does sound nice though.
I'll have a peek around the back of my CD when I get back for a digital out lead...I fear the worst as its about 10 years old, basic and Sansui!

 

Yeah - that's the NAD I was thinking of initially - it first shipped with a really weird arm (apparently). I nearly bought one in 1996 but Richers had sold out

That Sansui's almost CERTAIN to have at least an optical out - you can skimp more on these cables as (unless it's a Chord DAC64 you end up with!) it's a slightly flawed format. I've never bothered upgrading from stock optical leads on my stuff - but then MD resamples and thus gets round jitter anyway - I've NEVER used a seperate DAC.