Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners CD player advise needed

Hey Guy's ,
Here's the deal , my cd changer is on it's last legs and it's time for a change but l'm not quite sure which road to take , l have had my changer for the last 10 years and l have been going back a forth between getting another changer or a single cdp (check my profile for my setup) the changers on my shortlist are the two Denon Changers the Harmon Kardon changer and the Rotel Rcc1055 changer which is quite a bit more money than both Hk and Denon , of the three the Denon 280 is the only one l will be able to demo the others have to be brought in. As far as single cdp's go l have demoe'd the Rotel RCD-o2 and was told by the salesperson that the 1055 sounded similar but they don't stock it but can get it , not sure if it's worth the 899.99CAN asking price.
Also another shop in town has the NAD C521, not the 521i either , l can get this player for 350.00 taxes in , and l realize there has been 2 successors to this player but was wondering if this was a fair deal or not, keep in mind that where l live not much is available to me and l do believe in dealing locally, so if l decided to go with another changer which one would you pick and of the two singles l know the Rotel 02 is newer but it is also twice the price @700.00 . What da ya think.

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated

Al

I like my Sony mega changer. Connected with the digital out there is no audible difference between it and my Denon DVD player (also digital connection). $300 US gets the 400 disc "almost universal" Sony mega changer.

If you're looking at NAD make sure you check Saturday Audio Exchange for the C541i. They have them for $299 and they're an authorized NAD dealer. I got my T762 from them and they're service is great. If you want to save some money, you can get the C521i for $199 (+ shipping).

Al, I second Mark(BigWill)in suggesting that you give strong consideration to a megachanger. After experiencing the convenience of the Sony and Technics units which I have, I'd never again consider putting up with the limitations of a single-disc player. None of these players have any audibly signicant differences in their reproduction.

Thanks for the suggestion Spock but i'm in Canada and with the exchange rates and duty this wouldn't be worthwile.

Al

Bigwill and JohnK, i have not looked into a jukebox player, how do these machines keep track of everything loaded into them, i'm trying to keep things as simple as possilbe although it would be convenient.

l had 2 players previous to my NAK, a Pioneer and a Sony and l was blown away at the difference the NAK made in my system , i could easily point out instrument positioning my top end improved, vocals were better, overall everything improved , not saying that the Sony's of today aren't good but the NAK (to my ears) bettered them back then.
i guess what i was really asking is if anyone had any experience with any of the players i had mentioned.

Thanks for the replys, i have been a member here for a while don't post much just lurk but i have to say i really enjoy this forum.
Cheers Al

I also like my sony and pioneer megachangers. I didn't notice any difference in sound from my NAD T571.

Al - I've got only great things to say about my H-K carousel (FL 8550) I've had it 4 years, bought it as a demo and it plays 12 hours a day on average - over 15,000 hours on it anyway - and so far the only maintenance it's needed is a general interior cleaning because it would spin past the next CD and then return (it should be said, I and others also used to smoke in the house - nasty American cigarettes).

Bren R.

BrenR, good to hear, the Hk 8385 that i'm looking at seems like a decent unit, the price isn't bad either.
Been off the smokes since the end of January, but man they sure are tempting when having a beer.

Al

You can either type cd titles in with a keyboard or use the dials and buttons to do the same thing. Kind of a chore.

The only other downside that I've experienced is that the mega changer remote has buttons that trigger functions no other devices have. That is, your universal remote will probably not be able to "learn" all of the functions the player is capable of. You'll want to keep the CD player's remote handy.