The old one box or two box chestnut

[admin_exported]

I'm considering an upgrade to my old, cheap scart only DVD player as I have a nice new panasonic plasma. Thing is, my CD player is a little long in the tooth now too.

I currently have an Arcam A75 amp and mission m73 speakers (I'm not bothered about surround sound) so have been considering the great deal I could get on an Arcam DV79 at the moment. Aesthetically, and I hope tonally, this would compliment my amp, sound great for music (which is important for me) and give me a great HDMI visual upgrade in the proess. All in one neat box.

But ... for the same kind of cash, I could go the two box route with something like the Arcam CD73 and the slighlty aesthetically mis-matched Denon 1930 DVD player (which has upscaling over the Arcam DV79 but is that really going to give a better picture?)

Is it a matter of prioritising music over movies, or will the DV79 give me as good musical results as the two box option?

 

[Andrew Everard]

IMHO the DV79 is a match for the CD73 as a CD player, so I'd go down that route. It's also a pretty good DVD player, and should work well with your new plasma

 

[Anonymous]

I purchased a DV79 (second hand) last month, it's connected to my Cambridge Audio 650A amp and ELAC BS244 speakers.

I chose the DV79 over the CD73 mainly for the DVD-A capabilities of the DV79. I'm very happy with the quality of audio I get when playing CDs, but playing DVD-A discs is another, better story - it's totally awesome. I'm sure the DV79 will feel at home next to the A75!