2. digital
  3. 1169404937

my rant on new single disc players under $500

WHERE IS THE FRICKEN REMOTE VOLUME CONTROL OPTION!!!!!!!! ok, now i feel better. unless i am missing something, in north america you can not purchase a new, current model single disc cd player under $500 with this feature built-in. what frosts my ass is they are available overseas in models from marantz and yamaha, but not here! in the good old u s of a it's denon and yamaha 5 disc carousels with volume control. it seems i would be forced to buy an older single disc player to meet my criteria.

i don't want to buy old technology or current carousel players to get this feature. i have a marantz pm7001 integrated amp and quad 11L's that i want to mate with a new budget single disc player with volume control. i am currently using an older yamaha cdc-685 carousel and do appreciate being able to make fine volume adjustments thru the player but want to move on to a single disc unit. i live in an apartment building with thin walls so the volume is usually fairly low. i have found that using a typical fixed voltage output cd player with my integrated amp gives me a very limited range of useful volume control. the volume just increases too fast for me. however my yammaha carousel allows a greater range of control at lower volumes.

are there any models out there that i am overlooking that would fit my criteria? would putting a resistor in-line be an option or just degrade sound quality? the used players listed on this site with volume control are all over $500. maybe i should just resign myself into having to use a carousel for my purpose. thanks in advance to any input on my ramblings.

regards,
Paul
ptt660
ptt660 OP
20 posts
 
i have been considering both these possibilties and may spend the extra money to do it. the quad would at least be a relatively recent model and match up well with the quad's. thanks for the input so far. appreciated!
metralla
945 posts
 
You have a remote volume control on your amp, correct? It sounds like you just need some attenuation. Many players these days do have a little more than 2.0 volts output, particularly the cheap ones. You might do some research on older machines to see if you can find one with a lower than average output. Or you can get an analogue attenuation device on the line outs, rather than the horrible digital volume control.

I think there are a couple of ways to solve this problem without "frosting your arse".

Regards,
reubent
7,066 posts
 
A simple pair of Rothwell in-line attenuators will solve your problem of "too much gain". Here's a link to a pair for sale here on A-goN:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?accstwek&1171809225

And, as stated by previous posters, a quality used CD player for a few more dollars will outperform the current crop of sub-$500 players.

I've owned Theta Miles, Cary CD-308, Quad 99-CDP and Quad 99-CDP2. I can highly recommend all of them if you find a good deal.

Enjoy,

TIC
ptt660 OP
20 posts
 
metralla, thank you! those attenuators should work nice for my needs. this will give me more options in a future cd player instead of feeling like i have to get a cd player with volume control. do these attenuators degrade the sound at all?
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
Here's a company that makes stepped attenuators Endler attenuators. This way you can make adjustments easier.
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