Used CD players not that prevalent...

Used CD players not that prevalent...

Being in the process of building a second system for the study, I'd decided to go for used or ex-demo kit to improve the SQ-for-money equation.

Currently looking for a mid-market CD player to complete the system...

Searching the local classifieds here in SA turned up nothing that was still available. I eventually contacted the local distributors to see if any of them had anything.

Meanwhile, to see if this was a local anomaly, I scrolled through the PFM classifieds and found a similar situation - the latest entry for a CDP was on page 8 (and that was for a Wadia 381 at 3,000 quid...).

What's going on here? Everyone hanging on to what they've got as CD sales decline, rather than outlay a significant amount of cash on a new product? It would seem so...

Anyway, one distributor came back to me saying he had an ex-demo Bryston BCD-1 at a price that was just above my self-imposed limit. I collected it yesterday and it sounded great - a good match for the rest the system. Then after a few hours, the CD mechanism started to skip...

Tomorrow it goes to the distributor's tech department to see if it's just a dry sledge mechanism on the Philips L1210 mechanism, while the distributor has sent off a request to Bryston to find out cost and availability of a replacement L1210 mechanism. GRUMP! (And it was sounding so good... )

Plan B will be to opt for an Audiolab 8200CD (new) for about the same cash - I want a balanced analogue output on the CDP.

I had hoped to pick up an Electrocompaniet PC-1 to complement the amplifier, but these are like hens' teeth.

So, we'll just have to wait and see what happens - in the meantime a Panasonic BluRay player is doing CD player impressions...

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Used CD players not that prevalent...