Pure Sound A8000 cdp - Anyone had experience?

[Jankoff]

I registered in this forum in December 2014 and the last post here is 04-10-2010 Anyway, I have the Pure Sound A8000. But I haven't listened to it for years - mainly because I switched over to the PC > USB Interface > DAC route. Furthermore, I do not have much experience with the Pure Sound A8000 because it was my second CD player. I have an Advance Acoustic transport in my first setup - that I use most often. However, I can assure you the Pure Sound A8000 is a very, very good player. These days, in spite of my preoccupation with PC as a source, I have been thinking about giving the A8000 a listen. After I do this, I will drop a couple of lines here.

P.S. Edit. After posting the above, now I remember! The designer of the A8000 is the same man who made a great looking amp, the Audio Innovations Alto. It played classical music very well but not, e.g., rock - I know this from times 20 years ago when I lived in Edinburgh for a year and used to pop in at the Richer Sounds store. Actually the designer is mentioned above, Guy Sergeant, a participant in the forum, I understand.
Very interesting! Because I also suddenly remembered some minutes ago that in those years - when I used to listen to the A8000, this player did very well classical music but lacked the spark and bang for rock. So I placed the A8000 in a smaller room for more relaxed music.

[sonaria]

Hi,
I've just bought such a CD player and I need some help... anyone here, please?

Regards

Tomasz

[struth]

tis a very old thread.. maybe if you state your issue someone might be able to help;

[sonaria]

Hi,
Well... the CD player is Pure Sound A-8000 and it sometimes refuses to open the drawer / recognize the disc. And then the remote control is not working so I'm not able to experiment with the upsampling and the functions that are not available on the faceplate

Regards

Tomasz

[Jankoff]

Pure Sound A-8000 is a fantastic player for classical music, produced by audio designer and experimenter Guy Sargeant. Frankly, the Pure Sound A-8000 is not good for hard rock and similar material - but someone might like its symphonic style even in these genres. What is remarkable, extraordinary, is how this guy managed to produce a CD player specifically for classical music. There must be some mystery in this - how you can achieve it. As far as I can remember, in the 1990s Guy Sargeant used to make some very strange but interesting looking amplifiers that also played classical music with relish, and not so much hard rock etc. I tried to find pictures of these amps in the Internet but couldn't. I would be grateful if someone here might show them here.
As for the problem with opening and closing the drawer, etc., this must be easily repaired by any capable technician/engineer. I would have the Pure Sound A-8000 repaired and would keep it - it is a unique device in many respects, real hi-end, and was relatively expensive (~GBP 2500).

[Jankoff]

Funny, minutes after the previous post I found the "classical music" amp. Its name is Audio Innovations Alto, here it is, read about it and marvel at it - https://www.google.com/search?q=Audi..._AUoAXoECAEQAw
Pity it is not produced any more.

[walpurgis]

Funny, minutes after the previous post I found the "classical music" amp. Its name is Audio Innovations Alto, here it is, read about it and marvel at it - https://www.google.com/search?q=Audi..._AUoAXoECAEQAw
Pity it is not produced any more.

The link just provides a Google page of Audio Innovations equipment. Which item are we looking for?

I don't get the "classical music" amp term, who came up with that?

[Macca]

The link just provides a Google page of Audio Innovations equipment. Which item are we looking for?

I don't get the "classical music" amp term, who came up with that?

Alto amplifier, one for sale here on eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125551048002?

I recall these coming out, very low power and even less power into low impedance loads IIRC. Had a bit of a cult following at the time but I don't know why, it was nothing special IMO.

[Jankoff]

The link just provides a Google page of Audio Innovations equipment. Which item are we looking for?

I don't get the "classical music" amp term, who came up with that?

I have not listened to the amp - Audio Innovations Alto, as correctly mentioned by Macca here, but I have the Pure Sound A-8000 CD player and it does perform classical music magnificently. Hard rock and similar stuff - not so much. Clearly this device is a classical music CD player. This is what I hear with my ears. I have a neighbor who is a violinist in a high-class symphony orchestra and he confirms my finding. How the designer does this (make CD players and amps good for classical music) - I do not know. But to me - to my ears and brain, it is a fact.