Keep Pioneer A400 or Upgrade

[admin_exported]

I have retained my 1990 Pioneer A400 through two upgrades, the last one was about 5 years ago when I added a Marantz CD6000 KI Signature and Castle 7SE speakers (these sounded very good with the A400 and Marantz and, very importantly, I was allowed to keep these in the lounge due to their superb looks and real wood finish). At the time I tried a Musical Fidelity A3 amp, but to my surprise, I did not find it significantly more involving or better sounding than the A400. I have continued to be very pleased with the smooth, involving sound of this system. Unfortunately the CD6000KI has now broken down and needs replacing. My problem is that I am soon upgrading all my AV system and so I do not want to spend large amounts on a Hi-Fi upgrade without significant gains. One option would be to simply replace the CD6000KI with the new Marantz CD6002, keep the A400 and maximise the budget for the AV system. However, if there have been real gains in the last few years, I could put more into the Hi-Fi, possibly looking at the likes of the Rega Apollo and the Roksan Kandy LIII. Do you think the gains would be worth the extra investment and would it show up problems with the speakers? Going down this route would obviously significantly reduce my budget for the AV system. I am currently using QED Silver Anniversary bi-wire speaker cable and QED Silver Spiral interconnect.

 

[Gwyndy]

Firstly have you tried contacting Marantz to see what it costs to fix the CD600KI?

Which is more important to you the Hi-Fi Sysytem or the AV system?

If you are spending a lot of money on the components in your AV system it may be that you will get a DVD player that is as good at CD's as the Marantz was and possibly an amp that is as good in stereo as the A400. Althogh this is doubtful, there have been DVD players and amps that do well in stereo. THe Marantz 4100ose and Meridian 596 DVD players and many Arcam amps being examples.

 

[gregory]

it's a shame about your cd and i agree with gwyndy you could get it repaired if it's not to much.a marantz dealer should be able to quote you for this.keep the amp,it's a cracker.