Wadia or Arc CD player?

Get the CD-3 mk II. ARC will service it forever. Most older Wadias use Sony KSS-151A laser pickups that are no longer available. Same for Pioneer stable platter mechhanism (Wadia 830, 301), which gets harder to source.

Elberoth2, That is good advice. I might add any ARC CD players prior to the CD3 cannot be repaired with laser assembly and transport issues since those parts have been discontinued.

I enjoy my ARC CD3MKII very much. I have had it since early 2007. Without going into all the technical listening jargon- it is very musical. It creates a large, open sound stage and finally, with some recent CDs, it even creates a sound stage beyond my speakers just as many records do. It is rock solid reliable and has played every disc I have put in without fail. I use MIT cables. I attached an MIT power cable to this CD player which made an improvement worth keeping. (I wish it hadn't, but it was significant enough to spend the $$$$.) That is the only tweek I have done to this player.

I do not know about CD1, but CD2 can be repaired, no problem. The CDM-12.4 mechanism that is used in CD2 is still available. No genuine Philips parts available though, only generic pickups made in China.

I'll take a dissenting view, based upon the ARC Ref 8. I thought the build quality was poor, particularly the transport. I also thought the presentation was smeared and colored.

The Wadia is not for everyone. It is very clean and precise. In some systems, it can sound dry. It needs very good supporting components and cables, along with a preamp. I think you need to listen to some of these and expand your choices.