A good new CD Player is the Audio Refinement Complete. I owned one for a short while and found it to be very "musical". Ended up giving it to my stepson or I would have it now. It was a little over $600.00 used though I have seen them go for less in the past three months. I preferred it to Arcam's 7SE and 8SE as well as Rotel's 971 due to its warmth. For $1000.00 you can buy the Musical Fidelity A series player from Audio Advisor, this player has received rave reviews - have not heard it myself. If you want to go cheaper you mught consider the Cambridge 500 or the Ah! Tjoeb, neither are to my taste but again many people like them and I could have just experienced a bad demo. I auditioned the Tjoeb at home but did not bother to isolate it which was definatly a mistake due to its tube output stage.
all linn, or mix & match??
I am considering a pair of linn keilidhs. I currently have a receiver based theater system (sony 555es, snell type d mains). I want to upgrade the electronics as a 2 channel system looped into the theater, replacing all speakers with linns (except my sub) I was considering Linn's classik for its value and simplicity, but am wondering if there are any integrated amp/cd player recommendations that have a combined cost of about 2K that should also be considered. I do plan to add an outboard amp to the classik as soon as funds allow, probably an LK140 or thereabouts, to get a more dynamic result. I know that Linn products have always had a synergy about them, and I am cheifly interested in an involving and emotional system. I listen to mostly rock (classic to metal) and upbeat fusion type jazz. Any input is appreciated. Thanks