Wadia 850 repair? Suggested replacement?


Hello,
I have a Wadia 850CDP I have owned since around 97-98 (I think). About 5 years ago it developed a problem with the loading mechanism and a CD got stuck. Wadia was able to repair and all was okay till about 2 weeks ago. Now there's a grinding sound when the drawer opens and as it reads the CD and now it will occasionally skip. I have contacted Wadia (now ARC owns them) and I'm told they no longer support it :-(
Does anyone know of a place that might be able to fix it? Preferably in the NYC area. If my fear is realized and it can no longer be repaired, what do you guys suggest as a replacement? Preferably under $5k. TIA and Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas!
jcatral14
Why not just by a new OPPO 203 or 205 or a 105D? The sound will be better than your old Wadia;
Really!!
On pcm Redbook, CD's which the OP obviously uses either 16/44 or 24/96, the Wadia will slay those Oppo’s

Cheers George
Dear George,
Have you made the comparison?
From the forcefullness of your comment I most sincerely 'doubt' it.
By the way I "assume" anyone listening or looking at the OPPO knows enough to use an "Isolation" device, ie Furman P-2400 IT or Equitech 1Q ahead of it. I'll bet you thousands,of dough-nuts, that the Oppo,in such a set, Blows away the old Wadia--even though it was great--way back then. 
Come back buddy.10-4. Pete
From Mojo Music Inc.

"When a PCM file is played on a DSD or Bit Stream converter, the DAC chip has to convert the PCM to DSD in real time. This is one of the major reasons people claim DSD sounds better than PCM, when in fact, it is just that the chip in most modern single-bit DACs do a poor job of decoding PCM."

BTW: The OP’s Wadia is a very good Multibit machine converts bit perfect for PCM , not DSD/bitsteam/single bit, as the Oppo’s are.

Cheers George
" I'll bet you thousands,of dough-nuts, that the Oppo,in such a set, Blows away the old Wadia--even though it was great--way back then."

I'll take that bet. A Wadia 850 will make a 105 or 203 sound defective on Redbook. And even though its old, the 850 will easily surpass the Oppo in many ways. Its definitely a more advanced player.

" Dear George,
Have you made the comparison?
From the forcefullness of your comment I most sincerely 'doubt' it.)

The same can be said of you. The Oppo 205 isn't coming out until next year, so how can you compare it to anything? Also, you don't have an 850 now, and your posts suggest that you're never owned one. You would have said so if you did. So how did you make the comparisons that George didn't?