I've had my CL10 for about 7 years of heavy use. I sent it in once because the random didn't work. Apart from that, all seems in good order. The CL10 sounds pretty good by itself. When paired with the Perpetual Technology dac's (P1-a, P3-a, separate modded power supply and Modwright mods on the P3-a), the sound is very, very good. That would cost you another $1,000 or so used, but it's hard to beat.
Right now, I'm auditioning both the highly rated Opus 21 and the vastly underrated Talk Thunder 3.1. The Opus and CL are pretty close (trading off some bass for some presence/space). The Thunder does seem stronger than either of the others. For the money, my recommendation would be to fix the CL10 and save up for the Perp Tech dacs (I use a relatively inexpensive Stealth Vardig XLR to connect the CL10 to the Perp Tech). If you aren't a super bass fan, you will love that combo. Are other good setups out there? Sure, but bear in mind that the stuff I'm auditioning is north of a couple of grand.
Hope that helps. There are some good repair sites out there for Cal Tech. I don't have them in front of me, but let me know if you need the info that was posted earlier by others at Audiogon.
Right now, I'm auditioning both the highly rated Opus 21 and the vastly underrated Talk Thunder 3.1. The Opus and CL are pretty close (trading off some bass for some presence/space). The Thunder does seem stronger than either of the others. For the money, my recommendation would be to fix the CL10 and save up for the Perp Tech dacs (I use a relatively inexpensive Stealth Vardig XLR to connect the CL10 to the Perp Tech). If you aren't a super bass fan, you will love that combo. Are other good setups out there? Sure, but bear in mind that the stuff I'm auditioning is north of a couple of grand.
Hope that helps. There are some good repair sites out there for Cal Tech. I don't have them in front of me, but let me know if you need the info that was posted earlier by others at Audiogon.