I agree with Natalie above. She is giving you good advice. I think that the better question is: "Is my dealer giving me good advice or just trying to make a sale?"
It sounds like the advice is questionable at best. With the current state of your system, you may not be able to hear differences between CD players, even if they are $2,000 apart. If your speakers, amp, preamp, and cables are not up the the level of the front end, then you will not be able to hear the difference between a mid-fi CD player and a high-fi unit.
My advice it to wait until you have good speakers, amp, etc. and then go shopping for a CD player. Even the higher end DVD players ($1500-$3000) take a back seat to a good CD player for the same money. Another good reason to wait is what's called "system matching". Aside from the cables and interconnects, it gives you the best opportunity to balance the sound of the system to suit your tastes. Some CD players have a laid back sound and some are more aggressive; if you have bright sounding electronics or speakers you may like the laid back sounding CD player better. Lastly, try to set a budget for the whole system, and that will determine what you can spend on each piece. If you are planning a $10,000 system, then you can afford more than $400 for your CD player. If your budget is $2500 for the system, then maybe a $400-$500 CD player is perfect.
It sounds like the advice is questionable at best. With the current state of your system, you may not be able to hear differences between CD players, even if they are $2,000 apart. If your speakers, amp, preamp, and cables are not up the the level of the front end, then you will not be able to hear the difference between a mid-fi CD player and a high-fi unit.
My advice it to wait until you have good speakers, amp, etc. and then go shopping for a CD player. Even the higher end DVD players ($1500-$3000) take a back seat to a good CD player for the same money. Another good reason to wait is what's called "system matching". Aside from the cables and interconnects, it gives you the best opportunity to balance the sound of the system to suit your tastes. Some CD players have a laid back sound and some are more aggressive; if you have bright sounding electronics or speakers you may like the laid back sounding CD player better. Lastly, try to set a budget for the whole system, and that will determine what you can spend on each piece. If you are planning a $10,000 system, then you can afford more than $400 for your CD player. If your budget is $2500 for the system, then maybe a $400-$500 CD player is perfect.