Marantz CD5001 CD Player

Hello Everyone.

If the budget can be extended slightly.... The NAD 542 is a Knock-Out. The HDCD decoder is a bliss to hear.

Agree with LANG on the 542. Marantz cdp's are good for their price as well. I personally prefer NAD and the Marantz line to the cambridge.

Manek.

HI, Jagat.The nad c542 is an amazing player and am using it currently.I have put it up for sale at rs15000 which is half its retail price.I am selling because I am upgrading to a much costlier tube cd player.

VENKATREDDY.
AUDIOPHILE

Thanks to all your help I have narrowed down my serach to the following two:

NAD C352 Amp + C542 CD Player for Rs. 58K

Cambridge Audio Azur CA 640C v2.0 + CA 640A v2.0 for Rs. 48K

I have raised my budget to 100K so would appreciate if you all can help me with suitable speakers (around 50K) to match the above two configurations. The speakers can be either floorstanders or bookshelf but they will need to have a front port as they will be placed close to the wall (don't have too much space). The room size is 5x5 metres.

Thanks.

If budget is critical, it may be better to save 10k to spend on speakers. In fact I would even save more on the CD player to get better speakers and then upgrade later when I had saved up some more.

Hi Jagat,

I have been previledged enough to have heard many a "ESOTERIC" setups and have owned a few too (Moved up the chain). However, "ONE" budget setup that really got me questioning the need to spend a huge packet on a "High-end" setup compirsed of the following:

NAD 542 CD Player, NAD 320 BEE Int. Amp, Monitor Audio Silver Series "S2" bookshelf speakers. Glorious Synergy between components. Great sound with all genres of music. Do write back if you need any further clarifications.

Lang

Thanks Sandeep on your recommendation.

Can you recommend me some speakers in the 50-75K range? The speakers can be either floorstanders or bookshelf but they will need to have a front port as they will be placed close to the wall (don't have too much space). The room size is 5x5 metres.

Thanks

Hi Jagat,

I have been previledged enough to have heard many a "ESOTERIC" setups and have owned a few too (Moved up the chain). However, "ONE" budget setup that really got me questioning the need to spend a huge packet on a "High-end" setup compirsed of the following:

NAD 542 CD Player, NAD 320 BEE Int. Amp, Monitor Audio Silver Series "S2" bookshelf speakers. Glorious Synergy between components. Great sound with all genres of music. Do write back if you need any further clarifications.

Lang

If you are located in Mumbai, you should contact Soundsmiths. Contact them anyway, they will tell you their dealers at other places also. They have quite a wide range and are helpful. For speakers, there is no use going by others' recommendations. You simply need to hear for yourself and decide. e.g. very critically acclaimed brand with rave reviews to me sounded quite harsh and I settled on another mellower brand at half the cost. Almost all the good brands are decent in their own way. Some established brands may be a tad overpriced, some lesser known ones give good sound also. Ultimately difference is not all that much, but each manufacturer has own type of sound which you may or may not like. Also some models of speakers from good mfr. may not be upto the mark.

There is huge difference of opinion about bose as well. 50% say bose is chinese plastic crap and advt., 50% say sound is awesome.

Hi Jagat,
NAD in my opinion is a terrific CDP maker in the budget line. Listen to a NAD 521BEE and you would know what I am talking about.

For a speakers within 75k, check out the following:

1. Dynaudio Audience 52SE
2. Dali Ikon6
3. Monitor Audio Silver RS-6
4. Kef iQ7
5. Athena AS-F2.2

I have a suggestion out of the topic...Since I can see that your room is a square one (5M X 5M), I would guess, it can be a huge problem setting up your speakers. I have some personal experience in this department. Speakers can easily boom (even with the tightest Bass), some frequencies might be unnecessarily exagerrated. All this due to the very high amount standing waves being created in your room. Hence DO try to keep atleast 15% of your budget for room treatment. IMO it will take your system to another level.
There is no point in buying a 100k system while it sounds like a 50k ones in your room, instead buy a 80k system and let it sound like a 120k system.

Thats just a personal observation...please do your research before getting into this.