Help me find a good cheap classic cd player please

[rswift]

My Marantz CD85, good bit of kit in its day seems to be beyond repair.

I have a nice classic system, Quad 34/405 & ESL 63 Electrostatic speakers.

Can anyone recommend a good compatible CD player, trying not to spend a fortune & quite happy with EBay & s/h stuff, but it's so long since I bought gear I don't know what is good/bad.

Short list I have got from memory is Marantz CD63, pref Signature or SE, Rotel 865bx..., or have things moved on, and maybe a new Cambridge or similar is the way forward ?

Your thoughts/advice please.

Thank you

[chazola]

By cheap I'm guessing you want sub-£100? Loads of good players for cheap now used, the ones your have on your list are classics, if you like the Philips/Marantz sound- i.e. a bit 'forward', then bitstream players are good, I'd add the Rotel 965bx to your list too- can be had from £40 and is a very good machine, around £300 in it's day. Sony but only the ES range, Technics higher-end stuff from the 80's & 90's was good and with the same Philips transport as Marantz, Denon always solid, crisp & clean sounding, perhaps a little too 'digital' but paired with warm Quad stuff would sound nice. Loads of choice really, have a Sunday look what's on offer on ebay then look it up on google if it takes your fancy

British &'audiophile' stuff like Arcam/Linn/Merdian/Niam etc goes for more than the Japanese/Far East stuff so there's some bargains to be had, I got what would have been the top of the range Sony ES player in 1985 for £40 off ebay, it sounds ace through my Quad. Somebody on here recently got a Micromega for something like £16, only a suped-up Philips but still a bargain...

[rswift]

Thanks,

Any thoughts on the old Arcam stuff, 7 etc.

I suppose my main question is will a £200 new machine sound better than a "state of the art, high end machine" that is 20 years old ?

25 years ago, I had a holiday job in a high end Hi Fi shop ... so my knowledge stops around there !

I remember unboxing the Hitachi DA1000, the first cd player we got in the shop, and playing the Elton John CD (the only CD we had)

[Hoover.]

I've an old Roksan Caspian CD player which was circa £1k new, a year or two ago I decided it sounded a bit flat so bought a new Rega Apollo for £500 and was blown away by the difference. This reinvigerated my interest in my old CD's as they now sound alive.

I'm guessing tech has moved on, and maybe price bands of equivalent players has dropped .... yes the Roksan still sounds better then most things, but is not up there with the best modern Hifi

[chazola]

I had a couple of Arcam spinners, they sounded good but build quality was bit plasticky, I've not heard any of the current players as my interest is vintage, with budget since a lot of them were using the same transports (philips or sony) and converters, there's not a massive difference in sound between them compared to say a turntable or amp, but one you got to the mid/high end stuff you had a lot of upgraded components/power supplies and heavy chassis etc.
I'd rather have an over-engineered vintage deck like your Marantz in good condition than a new £200 one, though I suspect new decks have caught up in sound quality with converters etc being cheaper.

[Frances The Mute]

The first one I thought of was a 63 KI signature when I saw the thread title. Not too sure what they go for on the second-hand market.

[Crackie]

chazola said:

Technics higher-end stuff from the 80's & 90's was good and with the same Philips transport as Marantz,

Another vote for here the Technics players with Philips swing arm mechanisms. The players to look for, with the Philips transport, have an A at the end of the model number but they are the entry level machines not the high end ones. I used to have a SL-PG520A and it compared very well to the £1000+ Exposure I used next. I've also run a 620A side by side against the Wadia I use now; a £230 pound player has no right to sound that good. Models 200A and 277A are great too but imho 520A is the one to have.

[rswift]

Thanks for the good advice. The 63 KI holds it price well on EBay.... There's a modded one for £475 !

The Techincs is a good left field choice, my Marantz isn't a right off... yet, although the repairer is looking for some obsolete parts to repair it, so not holding too much hope out.

[Frances The Mute]

£475? Lordy.

In that case, I'd be looking for a Rega Planet.

[telecat]

The Arcam Alpha Ones and Delta 70's may be that cheap these days as would Early Cyrus players. What you might find are the "battleship" Players from the Japanese. The DCD-1500 from Denon etc. I would expect that such as the Marantz CD94 and CD-12 won't be in that range though. I did buy a Denon DVD2800 which is a very good All Format player for £50 a couple of years ago so there might be in the ball park. Sounds rather good as well.

[Odie]

I bought a refurbished 5000 series signature marantz deck off of ebay for about £50 a couple of months back.

[rswift]

So,

My preference would be for on of the aptly named "Battleship" machines. I have a a few on my watched Ebay list, and keep scouring Gumtree. A £50 stop gap would be great, just in case they ever fix my CD85 and If I ever get it back, I've got an old Nytech receiver, and a pair of Castle Lincoln's sitting in the loft to make a second system

New machines, the Marantz 6004 is looking to be my best new option. About £300 and I can get the VAT back. I am however reluctant to spend £250 on a s/h old machine ... as I have proved with my CD85, could be left waiting for parts.

In the meantime, the quad system, including an FM4, (connected to an outside aerial) makes a lovely noise !

[bristolracer]

Ive got a marantz 6002, was £300 new they seem to fetch about £130 on ebay these days.

[blindspot]

How about a cyrus? You can pick up something like a cd6se for under £400. Cyrus offer an upgrade service, so if you decide that better performance is required you can send it back to get sexier internals. They also seem to support older machines so that you are highly unlikely to be stuck without access to bits in the future.

[bristolracer]

graphene said:

Although, there are some crazy prices on Ebay. Has old hifi kit really become worth that much?

About time too, much of this kit has been massively undervalued.

We have gone full circle and now spend big bucks on digital to analogue converters to turn the digital rubbish that passes as a source into lovely warm analogue sound!

[037]

All this talk of technics reminds me of my first decent CD player, it was a http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SILVER-Technics-SL-PG477...
God I loved that CD player and I can highly recommend it. I replaced it with a linn system, which in all fairness isn't that much better.
Any one remember the technics speakers that looked like no other ( sort of like a horn instrument)?

[LordHaveMurci]

Crackie said:

Another vote for here the Technics players with Philips swing arm mechanisms. The players to look for, with the Philips transport, have an A at the end of the model number but they are the entry level machines not the high end ones. I used to have a SL-PG520A and it compared very well to the £1000+ Exposure I used next. I've also run a 620A side by side against the Wadia I use now; a £230 pound player has no right to sound that good. Models 200A and 277A are great too but imho 520A is the one to have.

I have a 277a that I'll be ebaying when I get around to it.

[rswift]

Well, I watched... and lost a CD67 SE tonight, as someone hit BIN before me, good deal at £45.... I deliberated over a Philips 930 (£33 plus postage)

On my watch list now are Couple of CD63, pioneer 9700, a large ES Sony (can't remember the model offhand) , Rotel 965, Technics 520A...I'm now off working in Spain until Monday, but should have Wi Fi at the hotels, so the quest goes on. Thank you for all help & advice so far.

[TEKNOPUG]

There are a couple of Denon DCD-835s on the bay at the moment, one at £26. It's designed to sound much more pleasing to UK audiophiles than the majority of Japanese machines. Worth a look.

[The_Burg]

I bought an old Pioneer PDS 902 many years ago from Cashconverters for £60.
Weighs a ton and has a proper little turntable. Seem to recollect they were well reviewed and cost a fair bit back in the day.
Though to be honest i haven't switched it on since i ripped everything.