Apart from going to Argos and buying the one with the most buttons....

[Nick Armstrong]

I don't think my ageing Naim CD player is gonna last much longer (skipping is coming in now and then, despite a brand new puck), so I may need to rethink my entire system.

That is very spooky. A new puck arrived for mine a week ago... and has not fixed my skipping problem Indeed, quite a few CDs refuse to play altogether

It's been like that for a while (months) but I haven't been as assiduous as I could be at trying to fix it, or return it for repair, as I listen to more and more music via other media, but it's been bugging me over the last few weeks.

Which CD player have you got? (Maybe we should take this to PMs so as not to bore the company! )

[Beef Oven]

That is very spooky. A new puck arrived for mine a week ago... and has not fixed my skipping problem Indeed, quite a few CDs refuse to play altogether

It's been like that for a while (months) but I haven't been as assiduous as I could be at trying to fix it, or return it for repair, as I listen to more and more music via other media, but it's been bugging me over the last few weeks.

Which CD player have you got? (Maybe we should take this to PMs so as not to bore the company! )

Very spooky!!!

Mine's a CD3 - 13 years old. It's been a joy right up to about 6 months ago. I am informed that if it aint the puck, then it's the drive, which is an expensive repair (£250?).

I got a free puck after I went ape-shit in the shop where I buy me Hi-Fi when they wanted to charge me £16 for a new one (busy Saturday morning, lots of customers, bad for business ).

The skipping problem aint so bad, just three or for times today through Goodall's Rhinegold, Valkyrie and now into Siegfried.

Like you, I listen to more and more music through other media these days, so maybe active speakers and multiple modern sources like laptops iPods etc, might be the answer for the next few years.

Keep it outta PMs for now, there are plenty of esoteric posts - needn't worry!!

[Nick Armstrong]

I got a free puck after I went ape-shit in the shop

Mine's a CD5, couple of years younger...

It's a drag.

[Beef Oven]

Mine's a CD5, couple of years younger...

It's a drag.

My friend has the CD5, great player, although slightly smoother than the CD3 (I like my music scooped up and thrown in my face!).

Are you going to get yours repaired? I am not. Going to move on from the orthodox LP, Casstte, CD player, amplifier, speakers set up that I have been following since the early mid 70s (I was very fast out of the blocks!).

Might even dip my toe into the mysterious world of hi-fidelity downloads that Jayne Lee champions

.

[Nick Armstrong]

My friend has the CD5, great player, although slightly smoother than the CD3 (I like my music scooped up and thrown in my face!).

Are you going to get yours repaired? I am not. Going to move on from the orthodox LP, Casstte, CD player, amplifier, speakers set up that I have been following since the early mid 70s (I was very fast out of the blocks!).

Might even dip my toe into the mysterious world of hi-fidelity downloads that Jayne Lee champions

It's hooked up to my old Cabasse speakers which give the sound the sort of texture I like... I probably will get it repaired. I don't really want to shell out on something new: when it works, it sounds so terrific.

I've been working on a few 'free puck' gags (along the lines of 'some people will do anything for a...')... but I don't want to lower the tone

[Beef Oven]

It's hooked up to my old Cabasse speakers which give the sound the sort of texture I like... I probably will get it repaired. I don't really want to shell out on something new: when it works, it sounds so terrific.

I've been working on a few 'free puck' gags (along the lines of 'some people will do anything for a...')... but I don't want to lower the tone

No, don't lower the tone, not at these prices

I nearly bought a hi-end pair of Cabasse speakers, but after much consideration, I decided that I would keep both kidneys

.

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes, hi-res downloads... could write reams, but... one practical point is that you can avoid buying the fillers and couplings, just get the music you want. Just got the Venzago Bruckner 1 for £9.90, the 2-CD set with no.0 would have been over £20.

My CD replay is from a Krell KAV-300Cd as transport to Cambridge DacMagic (with upgraded power supply) and a custom-redesigned/rebuilt (2005) Marantz CD63 KI Signature. Both players were bought 2ndhand, are at least 15 years old, one service for the Krell. I was surprised at how the 2009 DacMagic outperformed the Krell in its processor and output stages, digital goes on getting better and cheaper. And now the 2007 Macbook, sending 24-bit or lossless files to the DAC, is easily the equal (though different-sounding...) of either. I find that I don't care much now about the disc, the object, the case, "collectability" etc... I just want to hear the performance. The artwork and notes are there on screen if you want them. But of course there are 1000s of CDs here already! Starting out now, I'd be having a very hard think.

I had more misadventures than ADventures in hifi... those lovely, huge, atypical X-A 200 amps apart, couldn't really get on with Musical Fidelity, Arcam better, no to Linn, vintage Leak or Quad (pace ESLs)... it was only when I took a big gulp and began to loan out 2ndhand high-end stuff from dealers around the country, sale-or-return on 0% credit cards, that I finally began to get it, or hear it... it was a mistake to buy the Krell CD (stars in my eyes...) but when I ran it balanced into a KRC-3 preamp (CC no.2 maxed out...), then, ah then!.. "THIS must REALLY be what they're talking about" I thought. I still remember the thrill of that December afternoon, playing CBSO/Rattle in Debussy's Jeux and Skalkottas' 1st Piano Concerto ( you see, always a fan of BIS...) Real music in a real, LARGE SCALE space at last!

...long story short, with one or two disasters (now there's a thread idea...), many misfires and much serendipity, I ended up with ATC pre and power amps, and Harbeth Compact 7 speakers. These are all studio monitoring equipment, "anti-hifi" if you want, very honest, clear, natural - but very powerful and rugged too. Biggest advantage - you always feel you hear, easily, the truth about a recording - and why others disagree about it...

I didn't really want to "do" hifi, but I had to learn about it because most dealers I visited (don't ask...)didn't understand what large orchestras needed - i.e., a natural, even "dull" sound, and - a LOT of power!

[Panjandrum]

...long story short, with one or two disasters (now there's a thread idea...), many misfires and much serendipity, I ended up with ATC pre and power amps, and Harbeth Compact 7 speakers. These are all studio monitoring equipment, "anti-hifi" if you want, very honest, clear, natural - but very powerful and rugged too. Biggest advantage - you always feel you hear, easily, the truth about a recording - and why others disagree about it...

Interesting, JLW. How does it handle that gold standard of a system's capabilities, the Tuba Mirum from Berlioz's Requiem? The passage where the massed trumpets blaze from the four corners of the Heavens. Does it literally, and I mean literally, blow you away? Whenever I want to "roadtest" a system, this is the recording I take; if it can sort out the congested sonorities of this baby then it'll do!

[Don Petter]

I think affection for Quad must be built in to those of a certain age. I bought my 33/405 combination in the mid 1970s, ran it for ten years in the lowland tropics of the Far East, then came back with it to the UK and had it overhauled by Quad. They grumbled a bit about corrosion, but given the humidity in the offshore islands of Papua New Guinea, there was little I could have done about that. Last year I dragged it out and powered it up again, when my Musical Fidelity had to go off for repairs; it worked just fine, and I am sure it still would. Given that its nearly forty years old and has been once round the world, I think its a pretty impressive piece of electronics. The only downside is the complex system of plugs, unique to Quad and a terrible fiddle to sort out; also, many of them are curious sizes of DIN and horrible little things to resolder when the joints dry out.

I had my first Quad units in 1965 (second hand Quad IIs) and upgraded to new 33/303/FM3 in about 1972, which are the units I'm still using without any problem. The speakers (Goodmans Mezzos), also bought new at the earlier date, are still going strong, and I've had no inclination to replace them either.

I have got through a couple of CD players. The Meridian was great for two or three years but then developed a fault which was, disappointingly, unrepairable by Meridian themselves ('regret now obsolete'), but the replacement, a second hand Marantz, still gives good service.

The Garrard 401/SME shames me from across the room, as I've not now used it in years.

[MrGongGong]

One thing to add is

Bose .......... don't go there

[Dave2002]

TS

You have set a quite difficult problem IMO. i support the suggestion of trying Richer Sounds, though Amazon and a few other outlets will also be useful If you have time some of the Sevenoaks people will let you demo kit. For me the problem seems to be that you want to "do it all" for around £500. Have you got anything already, or are you starting from scratch?

Do you really want new? What size room do you want this for? Can you cope with headphones? Do you think you might upgrade in the future? Have you thought about using a computer instead of a CD player?

You can get an amp for a small room for around £70 - the Amptastic T amp is reportedly rather good. However it does not have a preamp with lots of input switching combinations. It can be coupled with a cheapish DAC such as the DACMagic, or a streaming device such as Squeezebox Touch. if you used a Squeezebox Touch instead of playing CDs you'd copy them to hard drive, and then stream them. The results would be rather good. You probably wouldn't get a tuner, but you could access digital radio. That might leave you a few £100s for loudspeakers.

If you get a DAC then you can use that to provide some of the switching functionality for different inputs. There is an iPod dock (digital) from Pure (about £80) which is allegedly good, and you could feed that into a DAC.

You might find this forum helpful also http://theartofsound.net/forum - you could try posting there.

[teamsaint]

Well thanks for all the advice everybody.

Since I am starting from a very low base of knowledge, (used to know a bit about all this, but that was 25 years ago before computers and destructive 2 year olds), I think I shall toddle down to Richer sounds, and actually try to get an idea of what I am missing, and what makes sense for me.



Because I am so out of touch, I have to say I find the whole streaming/computer part of this very confusing, but I guess this is the way things are going, so I may have to dedicate the long winter evenings of 2012 to educating myself.

[Dave2002]

TS

Also depends on how many CDs you have, or intend to buy. Maybe they will disappear only to be spotted occasionally like rare birds. It is a bit of a faff to rip CDs, but if you've got less than 1000 it shouldn't take too long. The simplest solution is to buy a CD player, though cheap ones may not be so good.

My Marantz CD67mkII se has been going for quite a while now and it's pretty good. It must be well over 10 years since I did the research for that and bought it. I wouldn't want one less good. I really wanted an Arcam when I bought mine, as it was the only model which brought out most of the instruments in orchestras. I noticed that the salesman in JL always went back to listening on the Arcam once punters had listened to other kit, and I could hear why. However that was much more expensive. i did get a demo in Richer sounds, but they coupled kit together which gave hopeless results. In the end I did have demos in other stores, and then took a punt on my Marantz when Richer dropped it by around £90 from £250. It has turned out to be very good, which is what most reviews said at the time, though if I'd had the extra £100s (several) I still think the Arcam would have been better.

If you are prepared to go with computers than I would suggest either playing direct from a computer through a DAC or using a streaming device such as the SB Touch. There is a slight difference in approach. In one you use the computer to play the music, possible outputing via a DAC to the amp. In the other the computer is simply used as a server/music store, so you don't need a computer in your music room. I have done both. Wives may prefer the SB Touch and music server approach if your music room is also your listening room. However you may also need to implement a LAN in your home if want to go streaming, with additional costs for wiring and other kit - depends on how big your home is. If you can get away with wireless connectivity and you already have a wireless router then you might be able to do it with no extra kit or cost.

[Nick Armstrong]

One thing to add is

Bose .......... don't go there

Oh yes! I meant to say that too.

The sound that Bose equipment of all sorts puts out (inc headphones) seems to my ears to have the sort of thick, over-inflated, congested artificially boosted bass that I really hate. It's a personal thing no doubt, but I really would steer clear... it's bad for your ears!!!

[OldTechie]

The sound that Bose equipment of all sorts puts out (inc headphones) seems to my ears to have the sort of thick, over-inflated, congested artificially boosted bass that I really hate. It's a personal thing no doubt, but I really would steer clear... it's bad for your ears!!!

That's a bit unfair. They make perfectly good public address loudspeakers for speech.