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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 5 responses by natalie

natalie
404 posts
 
Stay away from DVD players if you have a music system.
People can tell you what they want.bottom line is a Dedicated CD player from a good MFG will allways be better than a DVD player at the same price point.
Pioneer for one does not make anything that would be considerd Hi Fi.
Great units but not Hi Fi,
Cambridge is vastly overrated.
You get alot for waht you pay compared to other units in the 400/500 range yes but true hifi no way.
Listen to a used BAT VK-5 at around 2K used and tell me you wont hear the difference.
Your source is the most important piece of your system.Dont go cheap there.
Junk in is junk out.
The best pair of speakers in the world cant correct a bad singnle.
Also consider a DAC.
natalie
404 posts
 
D500 sounds as good as an Anthem CD 1 you must be kidding.Your system must be very lacking if you cant tell the difference.I had both units here.I owned the CD1 was trying a d500 for a second system.it was found lacking and nit good enough for the second system.I tried it in the big rig and it really made the Anthem shine.
Come on people Cambridge is not HI FI.Poor build quality to boot.
One of the most respected dealers in my area has droped the line.To many reliability problems.
natalie
404 posts
 
Most Important component is the Source.
Junk in junk out.
natalie
404 posts
 
The source is most important beause it gets the information to the rest of the system.If you start off with a bad singmal it only gets worse.
Ncarv.You cant compare your 9 year old Meta to a current player.An 199.00 sony Player will sound better than your 3850.00 9 year old player.
Buy a Sony Cd/SACD player at the same price point of your s9000es and see if it is not better at Cd playback than the combo player.
natalie
404 posts
 
What do they use as a DAC
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