I'm listening to music a LOT more since I built my Axiom system - and I'm getting tired of changing CDs all the time - can anyone recommend a good budget CD Changer. Say, a 5-disc CD Changer for around $300-$500, for me - cheaper is always better lol...

I've thought about those 300 or 400 CD mega changers from Sony, but I've heard not so nice things about them. How are they really?

Thanks for the help!

"Budget" "CD Changer" and "$300-$500" do not belong in the same sentence lacking a negative. Unless you're talking about SACD/DVD-A changer, you should be paying a hell of a lot less than that.

DVD changers are usually cheaper than CD changers. But be warned that many are hard to operate without the on-screen display. Mine (a 3-year old Panasonic 5-disk changer) has enough front-panel control and a simple enough remote, and at the time the cheapest 5-disk CD changer was probably $100 more and didn't even play MP3s.

I've had a Sony 400 disc cd changer for 3 or 4 years and have been fully satisfied. All I have to do is pick up the spreadsheet that I created and printed out, pick a disc, and hit play. The only thing better would be one that could do DVD-A/SACD or even simple DVD....both of which were unavailable at the time.

D/A
Take a look at this-
http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/YamahaDVD-C750DVDChanger1.php
I brought one home several weeks ago, and it is a wonderful player, and brings playback for just about any format that you want to throw at it to the table.
You did not mention if you will have it set up in a system that includes a TV or not, but you will need to hook it to one for the setup process.
I added it to my system at the same time as the Yamaha 2500 and a Denon 2900, and in comparing the sound quality to the Denon, it amazingly is not far off, which means that it is pretty darn good! (Note; I have not used it for SACD or
DVD-A yet, as I have been using the Denon for those) Easily better than any other similarly priced 5 disc player I have ever heard. Far Better.
I have not compared it to the Denon as far as PQ, but as the Denon is now going back to the factory for repairs, I will hook it up for video and see how that compares.
I was able to walk out of the store with it for $249, but that was with buying the 2500 at the same time. But even at $349 it is as good a player as I have ever heard at this price.
I am a long standing Yamaha fan, and can certainly attest to the rock-solid build, and long term reliability of their units.
Go check it out.

If you can find a 13-15 yr old Sony 5 disc changer still in working order, that'd be my recommendation. Older Sony 5 disc changer + Denon amplification * Axioms = Magic!

As an owner of several megachangers I would recomend them. I sold my 5 disc NAD t571 for a Sony 300 disc unit and have no regrets after a year and a half. 5 discs still meant all the cases and dics to handle. The 400 disc Sony DVP-CX985V plays SACD and was given a great recomendation in The Perfect Vision this month.

One issue is that DVD changers are slower to load discs compared to CD changers due to process of disc identification and loading. The advantage is that you can view your entire collection on screen. As Turbodog recomended, a spreadsheed makes the process of finding a disc very simple and fast.

If you only want a 5 or 6 disc changer you can get a Onkyo 6 disc refurbished from J&R online for $99, shipping to the US anywhere is $20 I think. ONKYO DX-C390 6-Disc CD Changer
Go to www.jr.com and search Onkyo CD refurbished. I have one and they are excellent, plays cdr, cdrw and mp3s and has optical out as well. J&R are also authorized Onkyo dealers.

Thanks for all the replies! I will hook it up to a system that has a TV (see link below) - I will take serious looks at all the suggestions here, including the Big Sonys.

I don't want to mix in DVDs in there, just music discs (CD, DVD-A and SACD)...

In reply to:

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I've had a Sony 400 disc cd changer for 3 or 4 years and have been fully satisfied. All I have to do is pick up the spreadsheet that I created and printed out, pick a disc, and hit play. The only thing better would be one that could do DVD-A/SACD or even simple DVD....both of which were unavailable at the time.[quote/]


I have 2 Sony 300 disc MegaStorage units interconnected and haven't had any problems for a year and a half. Seems like together the price was only around $400. I like the idea of the spreadsheet, I'ven been physically hand writing each cd down on a tablet and numbering them, which is a pain whenever I spill a cold beer on the tablet and have to do it all over again!

I'll second everybody else'e recommendation of the Sony mega-changer. It's cheap, ultra-convenient and sounds just as good as any other CD player. Be aware that they are very deep and don't always fit on/in audio rack units.

Biggest plus is no more "dics" to handle! Ick!

Yeah - the Mega Changer is excellent. Do a search , there was quite a thread on MegaChangers back in Oct-Niov-Dec. Very informative.

To be clear, I do not beleive there are any megachangers that will play the DVD-Audio format.

What I did was to load all my music discs starting from 1 and going up and the DVDs starting at the other end and going down so the colections aren't intermixed. We leave the unit set for all discs when we play music and it plays without repeating until we turn it off or get through the last cd. DVDs won't play automatically they just take you to the setup menu and wait for your to select setup or play.

Ditto to all the good words for the Sony megachangers.