Marantz CD 72 MKII SE

You really mean the 72 ? It must be 8+ years old by now. Considered the player to beat at its price point in the mid 90s ... the old marantz (52, 72) seem very reliable judging by how many friends still have them (my 67SE has been flawless). In about 1995 we compared versus a very expensive TEAC VRDS and it beat the TEAC.

But that said it's an old, old piece and likely quite hard to get spares if it breaks (it may be a CDM4 transport mech ... hard to find spares and expensive). I would not pay over $100 for one, for this reason.

Thanks Sean,

How about the sonic character? You are right, it uses CDM 4/19 which I think is better than the present days CDM12s and it has got DAC7 which used in Marantz CD17. But I heard the CDM 4 has got operating noise that is audible in quiet passages during playback is that true?

I have an old player with a CDM2 and it can be a bit noisy, particularly at the start of discs, when they are spinning fastest. There may or may not be a similar problem with the CDM4.
I wouldn't like to say the sonic character since it's pretty system dependant ... just that the player sounded good, and beat a then $1500 TEAC player.

Overall I'd still say to pay no more than $100, perhaps $150 tops, because if the laser pickup goes then it will be a paperweight. You might be lucky and get another 5 years from it. You might be unlucky and get 6 months. I paid $100 for my CDM2 based machine, and so far I've had 18months of use from it.