Kgproperties,
First, kudos to you for going to the effort to evaluate these players yourself and for sharing your thoughts.
I am curious about something, as I have listened to three similar players, two of them in a showroom and all 3 in my home system head-to-head (the AMR came from a different dealer than yours did). The Wadia I demod was a 581i, and I demod them head-to-head in December so I am not sure if the AMR had the new capacitors yet. The AR CD-7 was the same model as far as I can tell. At the showroom, did you try putting the AR CD-7 in the Krell system and or did you put the Wadia with the AR tubed gear? I think the AR would show better high and low frequency extension when paired with the Krell gear and the Wadia similarly can be better if there is one tubed piece involved somewhere (as in switching the AR pre-amp in for the Krell pre-amp in the Krell/Wilson system). Also, depending on the player the Transparent cables will have an effect. You may want to consider a more mix and match approach before you finalize your decision. It depends on how "analytical" the rest of your system is.
I did not find the AR CD7 to be so lacking in frequency extension, and in general found the 3 players to be a bit of a tie in peformance but for varying reasons (but I did not have the new 581 se, which might put it in a different league from the previous generation 581i). I felt that the AMR had it all over the CD-77 for bass control, and similarly the Wadia killed them both in that regard, but paired with the solid state gear I was very impressed with the highs and lows from the CD7. Nevertheless, I was pleased to see that both of these tubed players were considerably better than the tubed CD players that I had heard a year or so before.
For a just little more $$, I liked the T+A D-10 a lot and felt it was very analog without the loss of detail. I demod it in my home system, and it sounded quite a bit different than at the dealer where the system was fully tubed gear. It is also a very attractive piece that comes in any color you would like. Another dealer in SoCal carries that line. It does give up a little bit on the high end, but the analog-like sound is impressive. Again, be careful with the cables if you get a chance to demo it (sounds like your home system is well set up in that regard) I noticed that there was higher than average cable and power cord influence with this player. Also, you may want to consider the higher end players from Audio Aero if you have not yet sealed the deal on the AMR.
Good luck with the decision.
First, kudos to you for going to the effort to evaluate these players yourself and for sharing your thoughts.
I am curious about something, as I have listened to three similar players, two of them in a showroom and all 3 in my home system head-to-head (the AMR came from a different dealer than yours did). The Wadia I demod was a 581i, and I demod them head-to-head in December so I am not sure if the AMR had the new capacitors yet. The AR CD-7 was the same model as far as I can tell. At the showroom, did you try putting the AR CD-7 in the Krell system and or did you put the Wadia with the AR tubed gear? I think the AR would show better high and low frequency extension when paired with the Krell gear and the Wadia similarly can be better if there is one tubed piece involved somewhere (as in switching the AR pre-amp in for the Krell pre-amp in the Krell/Wilson system). Also, depending on the player the Transparent cables will have an effect. You may want to consider a more mix and match approach before you finalize your decision. It depends on how "analytical" the rest of your system is.
I did not find the AR CD7 to be so lacking in frequency extension, and in general found the 3 players to be a bit of a tie in peformance but for varying reasons (but I did not have the new 581 se, which might put it in a different league from the previous generation 581i). I felt that the AMR had it all over the CD-77 for bass control, and similarly the Wadia killed them both in that regard, but paired with the solid state gear I was very impressed with the highs and lows from the CD7. Nevertheless, I was pleased to see that both of these tubed players were considerably better than the tubed CD players that I had heard a year or so before.
For a just little more $$, I liked the T+A D-10 a lot and felt it was very analog without the loss of detail. I demod it in my home system, and it sounded quite a bit different than at the dealer where the system was fully tubed gear. It is also a very attractive piece that comes in any color you would like. Another dealer in SoCal carries that line. It does give up a little bit on the high end, but the analog-like sound is impressive. Again, be careful with the cables if you get a chance to demo it (sounds like your home system is well set up in that regard) I noticed that there was higher than average cable and power cord influence with this player. Also, you may want to consider the higher end players from Audio Aero if you have not yet sealed the deal on the AMR.
Good luck with the decision.