The best USED transport today - for under 500.00

EAD-T7000 - If you don't take my word for it, take it from the posters above. The T7000 is far superior to transports costing thousands more. No joke. That damn thing embarrassed quite a few of my high end transports and one box units. Through a Krell DAC in the HTS home theater processor (its the only DAC I had available to make the comparison), the EAD was on par (different - not better or worse) or better than the following one box players played direct/through a preamp: Audiomeca Mephisto II, Audio Aero Capitole, Marantz SA-1, Accuphase 75V, Sony XA777ES, Krell 300CD, Krell 250CD, Sony DVP9000ES, Meridian 508.24, and Electrocompaniet EMC-1 MkII.

The soundstage on the EAD is huge.. The sound is warm, relaxing and inviting... detailed, and dynamic - air transparency... all that! This thing is quite amazing. I wonder what it would sound like with a good DAC? Audionote 4.1x? :)

Unfortunately the T7000 has problems with the tray closing prematurely. If you can find a Theta Data original (not the BASIC) I think it has the same guts as the T7000, doesn't have the tray problem and is still supported by Theta.

Ultimately I sold the EAD because of the tray problems and its quite ugly. I settled for an Audiomeca Mephisto II which was one of the few players in the same league as the EAD.

I use a Parasound C\DP-1000 as a Transport, and I love it! I've compared my Parasound to Marantz, EAD, and Rotel's, oh, and an Audio Alchemy drive, which I can't remember; this was back in '96....Anyway, Parasound Player/Transport's are awsome! Especially for the price. Their transport mechanisms are made by CEC, so what does that tell you! Very solid, and reliable!

I have owned the Rotel and the Aiwa mentioned above and have tried the Audio Alchemy.
I still own a Parasound and will not sell it. The Parasound is much better. Smoother, richer, deeper bass.
If you get the Aiwa modified by Stan Warren, it will be a little bit better than the Rotel and AA, but still not quite up to the Parasound.

Woops...That link is www.chicagoaudio.org

The other one is a commericial site.

EAD T-7000 transport replaced my Proceed PDT-2 I was using it wasn't a hard decision whatsoever there's a considerable difference between them sonically

Aiwa XC-37M 5 Disc Changer.. $50 to $60. Doubt it? Go to the Chicago Audio Society and see for yourself at... www.chicagoaudio.com ... and search using Aiwa

I like the Rotel 980 I own. They can be found for around $300 on the after market. It has the much desired Phillips CDM-9 loader and single beam laser. It is built like a tank with a good sized power supply.

Proceed PDT3. I've seen them for $450-700 used ($2495 MSRP), can't be beat at that price.

Parasound cdb 2000 transport. Belt driven like your spinning vinyl, super quiet, had mine for about 7 years and never a problem, Robert Harley raved about this in Stereophile.
God bless,
Bill

An older Camelot Merlin.

EAD T-7000

Hi,

I just saw an Audio Alchemy DDS Pro listed, new today, for $450. IMHO, that's a steal. I have one myself, and have found it first class, and I also have an Accuphase DP-75 (which I'm trying to sell) and a Sonic Frontiers SFT-1. How many transports have a heavy separate power supply? The DDS Pro does. It also features the Pioneer "Stable Platter". I honestly don't think you could do better, or nearly as well.