Tír Na HiFi

I see you eventually got it well done REL S3 subwoofer.

Shakti stones I think are stretching a bit far to be fair!! Although some people do swear by them.

Supertweeters did cross my mind but I never would have guessed it was a sub. I'm happy with the bass I get from the 989's so I doubt very much that I'll ever add a sub.

Peter has the longest room I have come across for hifi! A bit like the Avantgarde room but wider.
It is tailor made for the Quads plenty of room to breathe and just shout over if you need some food or coffee from the kitchen! I could see how sub would work well in his set up.

Looks like my quest for a CDP is back on the agenda as the Arcam CD23 has been acting up this past few days. Timing couldnt have been worse either as I was in Cloney's on Friday morning and it was that afternoon when it stopped reading discs intermittently. Could have picked up a replacement while I was there.

A quick look at Cloney's preowned section shows a Sony SACD1, a Meridian G08.2 and a Copland 266.

Anyone with any experience of these players(or alternatives)?

I'm remember being well impressed with the Meridian G07 a few years ago so the one above has taken my interest.

A smooth refined sound is what I'm after. Not looking for the last word in detail and no.1 on the priority list is that it must not be fatiguing in any way! The Arcam was great at that, I could have mammoth listening sessions without my ears getting tired or sensitive, though a lot of that is down to the Quads/Jadis.

First one to mention a PC will get abusive phone calls for a month.

My CDP upgrade path was actually from an Arcam to a Copland; I never regretted it for a moment. It plays beautifully through the Jadis equipment which is an added bonus. However to some ears the overall sound might seem too smooth and refined but I like it that way myself. Perhaps you should audition both the meridian and the Copland Dave as I am sure there will be significant contrast there. I also remember speaking with Derek recently enough and he had really very good thins to say about that Sony unit. So, I suppose there is nothing for it but a full session with all three CDP units!!!

Sony has the plus of being able to play SACD's. It is a beast of unit and highly rated. Checkout audiomart.de there is a Wadia861B that might be in your budget. I think it was around the 2.5k-2.8k range.

The Sony is a monster alright but I'd be a bit worried over its age and the availability of spare parts. It was released back in 1999!

Another vote for Copland here. Superb machines. Not everyone's taste though. Definitely worth a demo.

The Sony is a very fine player - I've had both an SCD1 and an SCD777ES here and both were excellent sounding. BTW, they are both identical except that the SCD 1 has a slightly different front panel and balanced outputs.

However, the mechanism inside is proprietary and highly engineered and no longer supported by Sony. I've fixed 2 for diifferent people (both needed stripping down, cleaning and proper relube of the mech) and both are working AOK. I have another here at the moment that does actually need a new laser - they are getting harder and harder to get, this one cost 165. Having said that, the sound is superb and would tick all your boxes - and is certainly not fatiguing in any way. Its probably worth having a listen to the one in Cloneys just to inform your ears. They also had a beautiful micromega one there a while back (I think it was that anyway) and it sounded great too.

Wadia no longer support their optical disc players (I think) but you'd need to verify that.....

IMHO some of the most underrated players are the rega ones....wouldn't mind picking up one of those myself.


Fran

Hmmmm ...... decisions decisions.....

Well if the 1/2 battered to death Arcam was able to hold off numerous expensive DACS.... then I would be tempted to go for another Arcam, CD17 or 39 unit..or is it 139... can't remember.... but it can play DVD's I think.

On the other hand if versatility is going to be important.... and can it be used as a digital DAC on it's own. I think the Audiolab 8200 CD player has numerous inputs including USB, which may be handy for the future..link here..

http://www.audiolab.co.uk/ProductDetail ... ab2=8200CD

Problem is that the euro is going through the floor at the moment....Sterling is becoming very very strong which seriously puts a damper on buying UK products.