Most older players spray a load of ultrasonic and RF mush down the interconnects and mains lead and this was one of the reasons why old Naim and Quad pre-amps went ape when used with CD (the Quad 33 had an overload problem too).
The old Arcam Alpha had a sting in its tail and this was a transport/jitter problem. If I were you, I'd save for an Avondale AAA5, which has a tweaked circuit and also Les can supply refurbished CDM9 mechs. He also does a souped up version of the Naim CD3 (ACD3) and both of these vintage players sound amazingly good apparently, with "texture" and "atmosphere" aplenty. he may do an SOR scheme on these too, so ask!!!
Machines from 1983 or so don't sound good, no matter how well built they are. The first Philips and Marantz models give me a headache and the Sony 101, although tonally correct, doesn't "do" atmosphere at all well by comparison with even cheap modern players IMO. The very best of the early top loading Philips 14 bit machines is by far the Meridian MCD-Pro. I had one for some years (replaced by the better 207) but it still didn't "do" spatial depth. After the 207, Meridian's went a bit coloured, changing to suit market (WTF reviewers'?) tastes.
may I suggest a few old cheapies which "may" be servicable still?
:-
Nad 500 series (rather than the 300 baby models) - clear and nothing seriously annoying.
Denon DCD 1015 (I think it was). Clear, natural acoustics but a touch "loose" in presentation
Arcam Alpha 5 (can be Avondaled later). Their Delta 70.2 was good but no spares when the laser expires.
Quad 66CD. Unfairly unloved and an excellent implementation of the Philips 16 bit chipset. Needs a high capacity mains filter and smooth interconnects with ferrites and then sounds great. makes a superb transport too! The 67 had a cheaper chipset, but avoids the possible matching problems of the 66.
Marantz CD80. Solid and good sounding. replaced by the Bitstream CD10, which over-eggs the analogue pudding to me.
Philips CD850 - A dream to use if not as fast as the Sony's of the late eighties. Sweet sound and great as a transport I found.
Pioneer CD91 - If you can find one, this was a lovely machine to listen to and operate. My old mate Jimmy Hughes had one for review for around six months and it communicated the music well to my ears.
Sony 502/505/555ES - A bit "whiter-than-white" in the treble but lovely to use. Spares may be difficult now though.
Micro-Seiki CDM2/100 - Based on the CD94 Marantz, there is a transformer coupled balanced output board added, along with beefing the case up even more. Clean and three dimensional, both these machines were the first CD players to give a proper "walk-in" sound stage, which gets better with the system even now.
Copland - almost any of them - The 288 remains a firm favourite, with a musical and involving sound and a lovely TEAC VRDS mech to delight you. The 289 was like a mini Linn CD12 to my ears, presenting everything in a tidy but clear way.
May I say that all the Philips based players seem to respond well to having their clock circuits replaced with something a bit more sophisticated.
Rega Planet or Jupiter/Io. Good, reliable, tweakable (look on the Acoustica site for Planet tweaks) and very involving to listen to.
Lastly, and a personal favourite - AVI S2000CD. Crap to operate compared to the Jap competition, but great sound with weight, solidity and dynamic drive aplenty, but with some delicacy too. Sounds superb in a "wide open" monitoring system as there's no harshness at all and the CDM9 "Engine" could possibly be looked at by Les at Avondale. I heard one where the output chips and caps were replaced with "better" ones and the resulting sound was too brightly lit and went all "HiFi," bass weight and power being traded for "deeeetaaaaiiiillll" in the treble Loading gears can be got from third parties on eBay and this is really all that fails at present.
I thinks that's more than enough and there's dozens I've no doubt left out. The thing is, a humble Cambridge or the lates Arcam or Rega baby players would almost certainly see most of the above heavyweights from yesteryear off now.
