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?
gunbunny

Showing 1 response by milo

I completely agree with Audiopath. You need to decide where you are going to take your system in the near future. It sounds like you will upgrade everything over the next year or so. If that's the case, you'll need to buy a CD player that fits your future system, not your current one. You probably won't hear significant differences between CD players in your current system. That will change when you have better amplification and speakers.

You also mentioned Arcam. I have the Diva CD92 and can tell you that it is an excellent player and much better than the Pioneer DVD player I was using previously. Spend a little more now so you won't have to upgrade again in a year or two.
Good Luck.