Which budget CD Player for Arcam Alpha 5 Amp?

[Zabriskie]

Hi,

My Arcam Alpha One CD player is nearing the end of it's life and i'm looking for a replacement. I bought it 20 years ago along with the Arcam Alpha 5 Amp and Royd the Minstrel speakers from Music Matters Stourbridge. The Royds lasted until last year but the amp is still going strong, and for the last year I've used it with Mission M70 bookshelf speakers and it actually sounds pretty good. The CD player still sounds fantastic when i can get it working, it's getting very temperamental in its old age.

I can't afford Arcam prices this time unfortunately, only have £200 to spend. So my options are:

1) Denon DCD520

2) Yamaha CDS300

3) Pioneer PD-10

4) Marantz CD5004

Yesterday i tried someone's Cambridge Audio CD10 and it sounded about as bad as music can. It coped with classical and jazz ok but made rock sound tinny, lacking in any detail, and like all the sounds were squashed together. Cambridge audio will not be on my shortlist!

So, my question is, out of the 4 options above which one do you think is my best option and how do you think it will sound through my current setup?

 

[plastic penguin]

You could pick-up a good CD73T for £150- £200 Or look at one of the older Rotels (965BX). I used to have the RCD975 with my Alpha 7 and was a very good combo.

 

[the record spot]

I used to use a Marantz CD-52 Mk II with the Alpha 5 I had back in the early 90s, along with some Mission 751s. Made a terrific partnership. The 5004 would be where my money would go, but see if you can have a listen just to be sure. I'd say that the speakers would be the more determining factor, but Marantz have always made great players.

 

[letsavit2]

Unless spending over £500 personally I would look at nothing else other than Marantz

 

[Tibor]

I think all players what you mentioned are good, there is no great difference

What about used Arcam CD 72 or 73 player? Both are excelent!!

 

[Zabriskie]

Thanks for replies.

I hadn't considered buying a 2nd hand CD player but now that you mention it, I think it's worth exploring. Presumably there are better places than ebay to buy Rotel and Arcam?

In the mean time, I'm taking my Arcam amp and Mission speakers to Richer Sounds this afternoon to try it with the 4 players in my price range. A few people have pointed me towards the Marantz but i've also read some good things about the Yamaha when played through an Arcam amplifier. Anyway, i'm sure i'll know much more after a few hours in a listening room with a bag of CD's!

 

[slice]

I would be interesred how you go on with the Marantz 5004. I bought a 5003(or was it a 5001, sorry, can't remember) to replace an old sony cd player and found no improvement at all, and the marantz eventually conked out after c4 years, fortunately still under a Richer sounds warranty. I would go as far as to say my cds sounded as good just playing them through an old dvd player. Richer sounds replaced the Marantz by a cambridge cd10. I'm also unimpressed by this one, it takes too long to load and to begin with made some odd noises after loading. I now play it through a dac, which is better. I'm not sure whether this means all cheap cd players sound the same or that you need to pay a lot more for a decent cd player. Am interested if you could tell any differences between the inexpensive players in your test.

 

[BigH]

It seems new cd players are not designed to last so long these days, my 20 year Marantz 63SE is still running, OK the tray does stick sometimes but apart from that it plays without any problem. Other option is get a BDP (Blu-Ray) which can play many formats and cost from about £100, only problem seems to be slow loading and some canbe noisy when operating.

 

[stephennic]

It seems new cd players are not designed to last so long these days, my 20 year Marantz 63SE is still running, OK the tray does stick sometimes but apart from that it plays without any problem. Other option is get a BDP (Blu-Ray) which can play many formats and cost from about £100, only problem seems to be slow loading and some canbe noisy when operating.

Hi,

I still have the marantz cd63se too, I compared it to the marantz cd6002 and preferred the old marantz sonically.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Zabriskie]

Listening rooms are definitely the way to go when matching separates correctly.

The Denon sounded way too 'in your face' and took me about 10 seconds to decide against it. They didnt have the Pioneer PD10 or the Marantz 5004, so i tried the Marantz CD6004 instead and it gave me the best sound, very balanced and detailed and i liked it's CD tray and mechanism. However, it's £260 and beyond my current budget so i ended up buying the Yamaha CDS300 for £170.

The Yamaha is a rawer experience than Arcam and Marantz, not as well balanced, overemphasises bass a little, lacks the clarity in all ranges, but it plays most genres quite well and gets much better after it's been played for a few hours. The tray is very thin and doesnt come out fully so we'll see how i get on with it, but the sound actually grows on me and should be fine as my backup player.

Then I intend on getting my Arcam serviced and back into use.

 

[Tibor]

The Yamaha is good. Not so clear=you can listen for hours whithout listening fatigue