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November 8, 2006 - 8:39am
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My First Post - A report on the Marantz SA-8001
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Hi MJS - Welcome to the forums (it's always nice to see members come out of lurking mode.)
I think of mid-fi as the kind of gear one might find at a Kmart or electronics chain store. Anybody who owns a Sumiko & Bellari, attends an audio show, and knows about Music Hall gear is in the hi-fi camp in my book...
Thanks for the welcome and the elevation to "hi-fi" status. (I did say mid-fi relative to THIS crowd!)
I've been into music/audio since the mid 70s, and have been designing/building loudspeakers on and off since then.
The new generation of CD players has me enjoying listening again.
Great board!
Welcome aboard, MJS! Just because your gear didn't cost more than your house doesn't mean you deserve that mid-fi label. Regards that intermittant "can't play" message problem, I've encountered it a couple of time with burned discs and once with an old commercial CD (a Dueche Gramaphone) in my Marantz player (SA11S1). A spritz with Optrix solved the problem for me in every case.
Like you, I'm an analog fan, but I really like having a player that gets the most out of my CD's and I'll bet that when you check back in after living with your player a little longer you'll be even more enthusiastic about it.
Since I am, as the moniker implies, a cheapskate, I envy you for having what you are listening to for fewer dollars out of pocket. Good show!
Cheapskate,
Thanks for the tip on the Optrix. I'll give it a shot!
Yes, there are some very nice single-purpose pieces out there that don't cost much more than typical consumer gear. I enjoy hunting in those woods. The rewards are huge.
MJS, spending $750 on a CD player takes you way out of the mid-fi area. Welcome aboard.
What? Someone thinks they are an audiophile and their audio gear cost less than their house??
But seriously, folks...a nice balance is when your audio gear cost less than your best car but a bit more than your other car...lol....
Hello, newbie here also. Never knew SP had forums until this morning. Anyhow,
I'm a vinyl guy and just purchased SA8001 couple of weeks ago also. I was going to go for a 2nd hand 8260, but reading about TOC, and $720 for a brand new 8001 made my decision easier.
I have yet to experience any trouble with SACD/RBCD/CD-R/W. I'm wondering if those CDs will play in your older players. I really hope Marantz fixed their problem for this player.
I agree with you on SQ of the 8001. This thing allows me to listen to music on CDs. That's saying alot. Enjoy
JRA
JRA -
Congrats on the 8001! It does sound terrific. Only on a very few of my CD-R/Ws does the 8001 say "can't play". But when I reload them, it plays them. Go figure. Yes, my old Marantz DV 6400 played them without a glitch. I'm going to try some Optrix on them to see if it helps. Anyway, that is a VERY minor inconvenience.
This deck sounds absolutely incredible. It is as easy to listen to as vinyl and presents SO much more musical content - even at low volume levels.
The biggest problem I'm facing now with that player is trying to find suitable IC. Kimber PBJ, and AlphaCore Micropurl copper and silver dont quite do it. I havent tried to use stock Radioshackish IC. Still in a plastic trying to keep them in a mint condition
So, what IC are you using them with?
JRA
Nothing fancy, just a pair of shielded $50 cables I bought at local sound shop. They are a real step up over the stockers. They've been in my system for a while and I don't remember who makes them. I know there are further gains to be made in that area, but as I said in my original post, I'm pleased with a 90 - 95% solution. To me, the 8001 sounds fine with those cables. Sorry, not much help. Good luck!
Try the Alpha Core TQ2 Silver. A great budget cable, and 30 day money back guarantee.
RG
Hi there rgibran. Thank you for your advice.
I bought both copper and silver, so I can decided which one to keep. Well I was very impressed with them so I ended up keeping both.
If they sound anything like MicroPurl then no thanks. I just find them to be boring with my current/different setup. But seeing TQ2 with a different design, they should create different sound chrctristcs. But with that price, there are alot of other options in that sub $200 category. I'm a cheap ass.
I'm sorry about getting away from the original topic.
thanks again,
JRA
Burning a CD results in a highly variable quality of disc, depanding on the quality of the blank media, but even more on the precision of the burner mechanism itself. Also, some players have better mechanisms and will play homemade discs that won't play on others. You have a lot of variables there. I find that I get the best discs (which will pretty much play on any player) by putting the tracks into "my music" on the computer and then burning the disc onto good-quality blanks using the DVD burner. A burner that can make DVDs must be much more precise than an audio burner, due to the much higher data density there, and presumably does a more precise job.
Interesting. Unfortunately, my computer does not have a DVD burner. I'd like to get a real audio CD recorder and not go thru the computer for music anymore.
I recently bought a CD recorder that might be of interest; there was a article discussing it in Stereophile about 6 months ago.
It is called the CoolCopy CB-9168 from ILY Enterprises in the Los Angeles area.
It will copy audio CDs in about 5 minutes, and any CD bit-for-bit in its Rawmode in about 10 minutes.
You can also do compilations from several original discs by selecting the desired tracks from each disc in turn, and transfering them to the blank media.
www.ily.com
P.S.--
With a CD source as good as the 8001, I HIGHLY recommend that you get a pair of Audioquest Viper or Diamondback interconnects!
I use them with my SONY SCD-777ES player, and it is a major understatement to say that they make a difference in the sound; no other interconnect I have tried even comes close.
You can get them from the Audio Advisor website if your handy local dealer doen't have them.
Doesn't HCM have them on closeout? since reptiles and snakes was last months magic, they have gone mountain now, or rivers. Reptiles just don't sound as good as a mountain right? www.hcmaudio.com They always have last months magic, discounted
When the tarbaby speaks...more black goo spews out...just the thing we need...how nice!
Okay...I ordered a pair of Audioquest Coral cables. That deal is too good to pass up. Thanks for the info. I hope they're reasonably close in performance to the Viper or Diamondback. It will be interesting to compare them to what I'm using - $50 cables from a local sound shop.
Commsysman - Thanks for the info on the Coolcopy CB-9168. That is a REAL possibility.