Which CD player please?

[andyfr]

Hi everyone. My previous thread didn't get any responses so I thought I would rephrase slightly.

We are unable to listen to players at a dealer as we live near Inverness and they only have a Panasonic or a Sony shop. We could go to Edinburgh but it's about 3 hours drive and at this time of year, not very enjoyable.

We are thinking about getting a new CD player to replace an old Marantz CD65, it's not that it doesn't work or anything but as it's over 20 years old and doesn't have a remote control we thought it was about time to change it.

The rest of the system is a Sugden A28 II amp and Mission 700 speakers. We have short listed the Marantz CD6002 or Denon DCD-700AE but would welcome other suggestions, our criteria being available in black and around 28cm deep.

Which player would be the best with our system and will there be an improvement over the old player?

All your help appreciated.

 

[RossFlet]

For your system I don't think it's going to make much difference which one you buy. According to my research the Marantz is about 280 pounds and you can buy the Denon online from Superfi.co.uk for 199-95 pounds. Both have remotes and pretty much the same whistles and bells At this price point I'm doubtful whether you're going to detect much difference in the sound, between them. You have a warm sounding amp (from my googling). so you won't want a warm sounding player but again in this price range that's not likely.

Check what the terms on Superfi are - right of return etc. and try it. You're going to want to do that anyway short of carting your amp/speakers to a dealer. Alternatively a phone call or two to Edinborough dealers may allow you to try a player on approval if you agree to pay one way shipping. At least it's better than facing the weather.

 

[andyfr]

Thanks for the response. I had tried to find some comparative reviews online for these two, and others in this price range, to see if there was a winner. I suppose I'm really wondering if a new CD player will be any better than the old one, or were the older ones built to last. If the only difference is that we get a remote then it's just not worth it.

If, on the other hand, by upping the budget we could get a better player then that's something we would certainly consider. Is there a price point where the components are better quality, and does a £500 player sound much better, in a home environment, than one half the price?

 

[inicholson]

Have you tried Richer Sounds? I bought 3 DVD players from them (with a credit card), demmed them at home in my own system and returned the two I liked least (before the bill came in!). They were very happy for me to do that, and they were right about which one i'd like best. They only have stores in Edinburgh and Glasgow (and i don't think they dem. in store any more) but the Denon model you're looking for (and some other Marantz models) are available from their website.

I suspect CD sound has moved on, I was certainly impressed by how much better the CA DVD player sounded than an older but more more expensive (when it was new) S/H Yamaha model I tried.

 

[RossFlet]

Hi Andy

Ian's advice seems like sn excellent solution to your problem.

With regard to upping your budget to (say) 500 pounds, my feeling is that you might hear a difference - but you might not either. It depends on how fussy you are and to some extent what sort of music you listen to. You might find that the build of the more expensive machine is a lot better - less plastic - but whether that makes a difference to the sound it makes is debatable IMHO. Certainly players in the 1000 pounds plus range are often built like brick outhouses. This may affect the sound but I'm more inclined to cite the electronics and the quality of the digital to analogue conversion as the pribcipal contributors And of course there is style/design to impress your friends though I suspect that is not so important to you.

What you might hear in a 500 pound player over what you have is a cleaner sound with better definition of transients with less mush. You would notice this if you listen to complex music like orchestral or choral. As Ian says the electronics particularly D/A converters used at the budget end have improved since you last bought a player which would contribute to the qualities I've described so you may be surprised how things have advanced since the mid 1980s.

Were I doing this I'd certainly audition a dearer player as well before deciding. Good luck!

Ross

 

[CJROSS]

Andy, may I suggest a different tack here, not familiar with your speakers, but I note they are listed in the Hifi World directory s being £130 new, If I were you I’d look at spending the maxiumum you can on new loudspeakers (you have a decent amplifier in the Sugden), then down the line worry about CD replay, I imagine you have a DVD player ? Why not consider a cheap £100 DAC like the Beresford ? These have stunning user reviews all over the net, you simply send a signal from a DVD player (spinning CDs) and any other digital medium (Freeview/Sky/DAB/PC etc) and let the DAC do the anlg output stage.

Spending your budget on a CD player when your system would benefit from better speakers, you will be better place to hear what your system really sounds like.

PS don’t worry about being miles away from a hifi dealers, check out the classifieds here and elsewhere and ex-demo pages above, you simply buy stuff and try in your home, if it does not work, you sell on.

FWIW re. cost of CD players, below £1000 I would easily use a DVD player as a source, concetrate on speakers, amps to drive them then a digital source. Spending £500-1000 on a CD source In my opinion you should have £1000+ speakers & a £1000+ amp. (IMHO).

 

[andyfr]

Thanks guys for your replies, it's certainly given me food for thought.