Recommendations needed; Marantz SA-8100 vs. Oppo BDP-83SE vs. other for SACD/DVD-A/CD

Dawgfish

I am building a second two channel system at my work apartment. I bought a set of SDA SRS-2s (pin-blades) that I'm going to use for speakers for the second system. I'm currently back at my home in GA for the weekend and I'm going to bring a few things back with me to assemble the system such as either an Anthem Amp 1, or an Amp-2SE (I have two of these that I'm eventually going to bi-amp the SRS 2s with), a power conditioner, some extra speaker cables I have lying around (AQ CV-4.2s but will replace eventually with MIT Shotgun S3s), and extra interconnects (Ben's old silver ICs in this case which will replace with MIT down the road). That will just leave me needing a preamp. I'm going with either another Anthem Pre-1L or Pre-2L if I can find one soon, or the Dared 2100 if I can't.

I'm going to keep this system simple. I just want to use one SACD/DVD-A/Redbook CDP. My budget for the player is $500. What would y'all recomend for a universal, two-channel only player? Two that really have my eye are the Marantz SA-8100 and the Oppo BDP-83SE. Are there any others y'all would recommend in that price range over the two, and which of these two would y'all go with if not? Thanks in advance.

decal

The Marantz SA-8100 does not do DVD-A, only CD and SACD. Quite well I might add.

Dawgfish

Thanks for the info Decal. No one else has any advice on this?

Drenis

I've never seen a 83SE for $500. However, I like what the unit offers and have been considering trying one for my 2-channel set up.

Dawgfish

There was on on the Gon this weekend for $450.00 It was sold in about 2 hours.

EndersShadow

If your not stuck on the SE aspect, there is a Oppo 83 in the flea market here unless it sold since yesterday. 350 + shipping is the asking price I believe....

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?132295-OPPO-BDP-83-Blu-ray-SACD-DVD-A-CD-etc-player-mint-condiion-rarely-used-2nd-system

Drenis

Dawgfish wrote: »

There was on on the Gon this weekend for $450.00 It was sold in about 2 hours.

Wow... I would have jumped on that myself too.

Dawgfish

EndersShadow wrote: »

If your not stuck on the SE aspect, there is a Oppo 83 in the flea market here unless it sold since yesterday. 350 + shipping is the asking price I believe....

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?132295-OPPO-BDP-83-Blu-ray-SACD-DVD-A-CD-etc-player-mint-condiion-rarely-used-2nd-system

I have been eyeing that myself. I think I'm going to pass on the non SE version though as I read there is a significant difference in two channel performance between the standard and SE editions. If I were going to be actually using the video part of the player, the one for sale in the forum would be at the top of my list. I'm strictly going to be using this for two channel duties however, so audio performance is all that I am concerned with. I basically want the best sound quality SACD/redbook player I can get used for $500-600. I'm trying to keep the second system as simple as possible. I am really liking what I have been reading/hearing about the Marantz, but I was just wandering if there were any other players out there. Playing DVD-As is not super critical either as I only have one DVD-A but a lot of SACDs.

FYI I have a Denon DVD-2900 that I use for SACD/DVD-A playback in my current main system. It sounds great playing those formats, but gets it's but royally kicked by my Consanance CD-120 Balanced CDP when playing redbook. I am looking for a player that plays great SACD while still having good redbook performance. I know in my price range I won't find something that plays redbook as well as the Consanance, but I just want something that is better than the 2900 in this regard while still having good SACD performance.