What's up with the Rega Planet 2000?

Hi Jimmy: Sorry for the "curt" post, I was in a bad mood yesterday. Not being able to audition players is a real drag, as most of them have quite different sounds. My general recommendation in your price range is a used CAL Icon MkII with or without the Power Boss upgrade (which adds more detail). It is old technology that still sounds very good in that the players have ample bass and smooth highs. They are also very sturdy and make good transports if you decide to add an external DAC later on at some point. The CALs do benefit from a better power cord and the $50 Absolute PC is a good match. I now use a MKII in combination with a Bel Canto DAC 1.1, but find that it still holds up very well, as a stand alone unit, with the under $2K (retail) players out there. There is a search feature on the first page of the forums (at the bottom of the page) which will allow you to gather a lot of info on players in your price range. Maybe try "CD and player" and just sort through them. A lot of people also seem to like the Ah! Tjoeb (which will allow you to add a little tube warmth to your setup, on the cheap), but my only experience was with the 99 model (two models ago), which did not cut the mustard with me do to some tonality problems that I felt that it had. I also kind of like the sound of the CD6 that you use. Have you tried any cheap isolation tweaks with it (like Vibrapods and a cutting board or a sheet of MDF)? This might be another option for as little as $25 or so and may be all that you need. Try searching "isolation" and "platforms" as well.

In response to several of the above comments. The Rega Jupiter is now available, and is often priced very competitively (both new and used) versus the Planet 2000. As for the above reference to the ELAD preamp, it is an exceptionally fine unit; and there are probably 400 to 500 in existence at present, not 100. However, it only has two inputs (though an external interface box containing more inputs is available at a relatively modest cost); outputs are single-ended only, and if you have RFI problems like I do, balanced will alleviate some of the noise; it does not have such ergonomic features as built-in headphone jacks (again available separately), polarity inversion capability, etc. It is extremely accurate and uncolored, and to those who prefer a more euphonic sound and/or are not familiar with the sound of live music, it may be something of a disappointment.

Is that you Sam?

Don't know anyone else's reason, but mine is 4 sale due to purchasing a Meridian 508.24. Something has to go. I feel it's a great player. Dynamic with a great bass sound. Top loading also makes it fun to play with.