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Crazy to buy a 17 year old CD Player?

My ARC CD2 just died...I think the laser finally gave up the ghost.  Any how I've got thousands of red book CDs in my library and need a replacement player.  I'm thinking an ARC CD 3MKII or the Mark Levinson 390S.  Am I crazy to be thinking this?  Got a budget of around $2000.00.  My system, though dated, is made up of higher end stuff: ARC 25 pre amp, ARC VT 150 mono amps, VPI TNT IV, Wilson Witts, all running through Transparent Reference (Balanced).
cmcdaniel5
whipsaw
753 posts
 
I use a ~15 year-old Electrocompaniet EMC 1-UP, and it is both excellent, and built like a tank.

Further info here:

http://www.electrocompaniet.no/products/classic/digital/discontinued/emc1up.html
bigkidz
3,322 posts
 
Buying an older unit is fine if you get a rally good deal.  I would see if the parts are still available or the mfg still supports the unit.  Georgehifi is right about the R2R they do sound better IMO but a good DAC design can make things sound special also.  Happy Listening.
jl35
3,934 posts
 
I found the CD3mkll to sound significantly better than the CD2
tbone5
2 posts
 
Thank you all for your time to respond.  I'm hearing from most that its best to move on...kind of thought so myself, just out of the loop for so long and not really sure what is up to the quality I'm used to .

Am open to suggestions on used equipment @ 5yrs old.  Again, max budget is @ $2000 - $2500.  As you can probably infer, I'm very old school with a preference toward analog.  That said I've got so many CDs it makes no sense to walk away from my very nice library.
imgoodwithtools
236 posts
 
There's a Ayre C-5xeMP Universal Disc Player listed right now for $2250. I'm not sure you could do any better under your budget.
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