TRL Marantz Sa-14

La45

If you are hearing what makes you happy stay with it. I'm sure the 2000es is an excellent machine.

Two questions for you:
1. Why are you looking for the v2 Sa-14? Is it for the color? (It is beautiful.) From what I understand - After mods, there is no sonic difference between the v1 and the v2.

Also - Who told you that the SA-14 should be a reference? Just curious. Thanks, and best of luck.

paul

La45-

I know you are just teasing :) We all know the the TRL Sony 2000ES is an elite player also.
I know of a very experienced audio industry guy who sold his $4000 modded Denon from another well known modder and now owns the TRL 2000ES(Actually two of them now).
I would check with Paul or Brian, but unless you want the champagne color (which is awesome) I don't think there is a significant difference between v1 and v2 SA14 modded.
Could be wrong.

TRL told me the v1 and v2 sounded the same after mods. For me the v1 worked great since it was cheaper to buy plus black blends in better with my other gear.

TRL Family & friends-

First off I love my Sony TRL 2000es player.

My persuit of the Marantz SA-14 V2 stems from my listening to the Marantz SA-1 player at my friends place. Its a great machine!! No I did not compare it to my TRL 2000es but what I heard made it very clear to me where the strengths of the expensive Marantz is compared to the modestly priced Sony player. It had more body, air and defined bass.

Folks I must say in defense of the TRL Sony 2000es, the player is no slouch. It overachieves in areas that expensive players fail. It has terric tonal balance. Above average bass performance considering the modest power supply and its very tunable and responsive to isolation and power cords. Its more defined in characterless fashion than some players. It reproduces music in a convincing fashion when you have it dialed in properly.

No complaints just a yearning to satisfy my growing appetite for better music and in my opinion the SA-14 will soon be my reference.

Cheers

Update on my TRL Marantz SA-8260. The sound hasn't changed in the last month so I think its fully broken-in. I have some where around 650 hours on the mod. It still sounds a little "hyped" in the midrange/treble areas. Its not bright or forward it just isn't relaxed and coherent like I have heard in other players. But let’s put it in perspective. A new SA-8260 modded by TRL is about $1,500 depending on how much you pay for the player. If you buy a used player and have it modded the cost goes down to about $1,000 total. So the question is how does the TRL SA-8260 match-up in its price range? - IMHO nothing can touch it. The best SACD player I've heard is the Sony SCD-1 which is still about $2,000 used and the TRL SA-8260 easily beats it.(Please no flames. I readily admit this is based on memory after having a SCD-1 in my system for only a few days over a year ago) I have not heard a TRL SA-14 but I assume that will be my next purchase based on what others have said in this thread. Thanks again to all who sent private emails concerning the progress of my player.