Choices in CD player/pre amp/amp

mopar paul

Hello,
Since I have some time off, I'm going to upgrade my system to purely 2 channel. Right now I have a Sony CD, Onkyo receiver & Parasound HCA1500 amp and decent interconnects.

I have a set of fully modded SRS 1.2 TL's, but everything else is going to be new or nice used. My styles in music vary GREATLY! I listen to blues, rock, heavy metal and bluegrass, so I need gear that will do all of the above. Here's what I'm thinking about.

1. For a CD player something around $1000.00 give or take a little.
2. Preamp-I would like something with a phono input and maybe step up to balanced outputs.
3. AMP-something solid state with at least 200wpc or more (should I just keep the Parasound?)

I have been searching around at used equipment less than 5 years old-stuff like McIntosh, Krell, Rotel, Cary etc-stuff that is out of my price range new. Seems to be some nice stuff, but is brand new technology go to out perform this stuff. I'm sure a NEW CD player will, but I have my doubts that a new preamp or amp is going to make THAT much difference compared to a $5000.00 (when new) 5 year old amp.

New CD players I have been looking at is the Cambridge 740c&840c, Rotel 1072 and fully modded Jolida.

One note here, I would prefer something that I could get service on should I need it! I dont want to have to ship something half way around the world or have a door stop if it quits working (this is my preference for American Made Components).

Interconnects is not open for discussion here:D, lets stay on topic lol!

Thanks for your input!
Paul

chargerman426

Hey Paul its all about mopar's. As for you post I just picked up a Carver SD/A-490t that is a tube single disk player for 500 of ebay.

As for a 2 channel pre i have only used a Carver C-4000 and my integrated tube Jolida 202a so i don't know how much I can be. But if you get the Carver CD player you could get a tube pre and if it doesn't have a phone input you would have some extra cone to play with.

I have heard good thing about Parasounds but i have never heard on before. I manly run carver and sunfire amps and i do like the sound of sunfire's over the older caver stuff they just sound cleaner and warmer. They also have a current and voltage outputs. What that alaws you to do is have a tube top end (current) and a SS bottom end (voltage). Hope that helped.

mopar paul

Chargerman,
Yeah, as if I dont spend enough time & money on Mopars!lol. I love Carver stuff, always have since I started listening in the late 80's. I'm not so much on "warm" sound as I am crisp and detailed. Maybe in the future I will have an analog/tube setup-I have heard a few decent ones and they're cool in theyre own right.

Emlyn

Ordinarily, I'd recommend always getting the best source device possible and building from there. But, you'd benefit more now by getting rid of the receiver and getting a dedicated two channel preamp. I found getting a tube preamp of greatest benefit toward enjoying and getting into the music. You'd have to spend a lot more to improve on the Parasound amp you have now, so that should take you a long way.

organ

If you already have a decent transport, you can look at external DAC's instead of a new cd player.

You can hold off on the amp until you have your new source and pre amp. Then you can decide if you need to upgrade the amp (IMHO). Unless you plan to use the same brand for your pre/amp.

mopar paul

My transport is going to be used in home theater, so I basically have to get a new player. As far as pre amps and amps, I would like them to match. I have interest in the Parasound Halo line, man that seems like nice stuff.

chargerman426

I still young (19) so my hearing is still good to the point where the tubes offer all the high end i want with out leaving me feel fatigued. But i have never listened to the SRS 1.2 TL's before so i don't know if they are a bright speaker or not. But as far as cd players go i have had 3 different kinds 2 form carver and one HK and the SD/A-490t is by far the best i have heard. I have been jolida before and listened to there cd player about 1 or so ago and that was when all i wanted was the WPC and i thought tubes where dumb. I only went because a buddy of mine wanted to get one of his jolida's worked on and the cd player sounded good but i really didn't have any common equipment with them so i had no baseline as to if it sounded better then what i owned.


Just an FYI if you were looking at some carver power. I know for at lest the carver M1.5t amp as the longer they went into the production run the cheeper they made them. We have 4 her between the 2 i have and the 2 my dad have and i have A B'ed his to and they sound completely different. The older one that has the noches in the face plat so it could be rack mounted sound a lot warmer and clipped a lot softer then the other.

concealer404

Parasound, B&K...

B&K is even made in the USA!

george daniel

CD--Jolida with level 1 or 2 mods
Pre--Belles 21a Auricap Version
Amp-Belles 350 A reference

gdb

If you want "crisp" sound......GO ADCOM;)

BlueFox

mopar paul wrote: »

My transport is going to be used in home theater, so I basically have to get a new player. As far as pre amps and amps, I would like them to match. I have interest in the Parasound Halo line, man that seems like nice stuff.

These are great times to be buying equipment, since there are so many choices. I looked at Parasound, but your best bang for the buck is Cambridge-Audio.

840C CD player http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CA840C
840E pre-amp http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CA840E
840W amp http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CA840W

I have the 840E, and two 840Ws in bridged mono mode. Dead silent, with clean, clear, accurate reproduction.

Add a pair of decent speakers, good interconnects, and speaker wire, and you are ready to go.

Face

The 840C is a nice sounding player, but I found a few issues. Imaging was ok, but the much cheaper DacMagic had much better imaging. Also, I found mid-upper bass to be on the thin side. Both the DacMagic and my Marantz SA-15S2 sound much fuller.

mopar paul

That Cambridge line looks great, I'm actually going to do some listening this weekend at them and some other lines. Thanks for your input.