My thoughts:
- I own the Arcam 73, it is AMAZING on redbook. I have a heavily-mod'd Pioneer universal player, it too is awesome. It does some things better than the Arcam, but the Arcam is better musically overall (one of those "I can't put my finger on it" things).
- I haven't heard the modified CD25, but I imagine my od'd Pioneer is better than that.
- So if you're sticking to Redbook CD, consider the Arcam 73 (perhaps not the 72, though I'm sure it's fine, too)
As for your other conundrum, more suggestions:
- Buy the amp first.
- Go to Amazon.com, and for about $90 delivered, get a Panasonic DVD player, model DVD-S47, and use that until you can afford a better player.
- The "Pannie" does some absolutely amazing things with redbook audio. See www.audioasylum, do a search on it or the DVD-S55. Also check out www.tweakadio.com, home of Ric Schultz and Electronic Visionary Systems (where I got my Pioneer mod'd). He has some scoop and links on the Panasonic players, as well as a $200 mod that can put it to near-reference level (?)
Whatever the case, lots of luck, and enjoy the ride!
Todd - chams_uk
- I own the Arcam 73, it is AMAZING on redbook. I have a heavily-mod'd Pioneer universal player, it too is awesome. It does some things better than the Arcam, but the Arcam is better musically overall (one of those "I can't put my finger on it" things).
- I haven't heard the modified CD25, but I imagine my od'd Pioneer is better than that.
- So if you're sticking to Redbook CD, consider the Arcam 73 (perhaps not the 72, though I'm sure it's fine, too)
As for your other conundrum, more suggestions:
- Buy the amp first.
- Go to Amazon.com, and for about $90 delivered, get a Panasonic DVD player, model DVD-S47, and use that until you can afford a better player.
- The "Pannie" does some absolutely amazing things with redbook audio. See www.audioasylum, do a search on it or the DVD-S55. Also check out www.tweakadio.com, home of Ric Schultz and Electronic Visionary Systems (where I got my Pioneer mod'd). He has some scoop and links on the Panasonic players, as well as a $200 mod that can put it to near-reference level (?)
Whatever the case, lots of luck, and enjoy the ride!
Todd - chams_uk