I think the Cambridge is a very nice player for the money. I friend of mine has one, and I really can't think of any budget players that sound any better. In my opinion, you should get the very best source components that you can reasonably afford, because no future upgrades to your speakers or amplifier will be able to improve its' sound downstream. You can probably find a used Rega Planet 2000 (a huge improvement over the original planet) or a used Arcam Diva CD 72 for around $600 to 650 on Audiogon or eBay.
Is my dealer lying to me?
This past weekend I went to listen to some speakers. I've been planning to buy CD player also, but that was not this weekend's purpose.
At first we were using a YMB player, McCormick amp, and Soliloquy 5.3 speakers. The speakers is what I was auditioning.
The CD player he is trying to sell me is the Cambridge Audio D500ES, I beleive. Price:400
Big difference I know between the YMB ($2500)and the Cambridge ($400). But it wasn't $2100 in difference in sound I can tell you that. What concerns me is the difference between his comments and the perceived opinions of people on this board. In other threads, there are quite a bit of "ditch the Cambridge" comments.
The dealers comments were "best player under $2000"... "chris sold his $2500 Theta and picked this one up because it's that good, and pocketed the money"... etc.
I'm not asking if this is the best player under $2000. But how does it compare to Arcam and Rega models at $500-700?
Obvisouly, he recommends the Soliloquy 5.3 also. I liked them but wasn't as impressed as much as I thought I would be. The guy has a small shop and seems honest, but it seems this cambridge is not very well respected in this forum.
I've gotten rid of alot of my gear. What I have left to use is a Yamaha RXV-995 receiver. An amp will come, hopefully sooner than later, but I need speakers and a CD player now unless I want to continue to use my DVD player for CDs.
Any comments?
At first we were using a YMB player, McCormick amp, and Soliloquy 5.3 speakers. The speakers is what I was auditioning.
The CD player he is trying to sell me is the Cambridge Audio D500ES, I beleive. Price:400
Big difference I know between the YMB ($2500)and the Cambridge ($400). But it wasn't $2100 in difference in sound I can tell you that. What concerns me is the difference between his comments and the perceived opinions of people on this board. In other threads, there are quite a bit of "ditch the Cambridge" comments.
The dealers comments were "best player under $2000"... "chris sold his $2500 Theta and picked this one up because it's that good, and pocketed the money"... etc.
I'm not asking if this is the best player under $2000. But how does it compare to Arcam and Rega models at $500-700?
Obvisouly, he recommends the Soliloquy 5.3 also. I liked them but wasn't as impressed as much as I thought I would be. The guy has a small shop and seems honest, but it seems this cambridge is not very well respected in this forum.
I've gotten rid of alot of my gear. What I have left to use is a Yamaha RXV-995 receiver. An amp will come, hopefully sooner than later, but I need speakers and a CD player now unless I want to continue to use my DVD player for CDs.
Any comments?
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- 59 posts total
- 59 posts total