Expensive CD players - worth it?

[Marco]

Like CD players with well-built but obsolete transports, or for instance Sony's unobtainable v-fet transistors and so-called "death diodes".

Where did you get that information from? It's new to me.

Thing is, as you found from a search the other day, there are plenty of vintage Sony CDPs on the used market, which can be bought for spare parts, so if you know a good EE, repairing them really isn't an issue.

Marco.

[Barry]

It's always possible that at some point Accuphase would sell out to some big corporation but there's no sign of that happening. They deliberately limit production and how much they export, it's all in the old Japanese family craftsman tradition.

By contrast, Levinson IMO was a bit of a chancer. I think he was just a marketing man, I don't think he actually designed any of the equipment himself, he got people in to do it. And when he had the chance to sell the brand and even the rights to his name, he did so. Then IIRC he was bringing in cheap China-made equipment and selling it as 'Madrigal' for top dollar. Had a demo of it in New York years ago now (2000) wasn't impressed. It was not bad, but IMO not remotely worth the money.

Have to say I thought QUAD still had a UK based service department that supported all their kit, maybe that has gone now, I don't know.

It is a bit academic now, but you are right in as much to say Levinson was an 'interesting' character. Originally Levinson intended to travel to India to learn to play the sarod (?), an Indian stringed instrument. On the way he stopped off in Switzerland to buy a portable tape recorder. Whilst visiting the Stellavox company, he was so impressed with the quality of their products, he did a complete volte face and returned to the US with the intention of starting his own audio electronics company.

The first items he made was a mixing desk used at the Woodstock festival. These were designed by him and used propriatory Burwen audio modules. The next designs were started by him, but finished by John Curl, who went on to design subsequent items for ML (which is why their designations are JC .. ). After the JC-2 preamp, Curl left the company to be replaced by Tom Colangelo, and the designations returned to the ML .. notation.

After selling Mark Levinson Audio Systems to Madrigal, Levinson started a new audio company Cello, retaining Colangelo as designer. In turn Cello 'morphed' into Red Rose which, I believe, used a Chinese company to build the valve-based electronics. By this time Colangelo had left to start up his own company: Viola.
So yes, an interesting career and an interesting character.

[Lawrence001]

Didn't people also complain that some Red Rose speakers were OEM Chinese with a big markup for the name? I initially refused to believe that because of his name but I now know better.

[Pigmy Pony]

Where did you get that information from? It's new to me.

Thing is, as you found from a search the other day, there are plenty of vintage Sony CDPs on the used market, which can be bought for spare parts, so if you know a good EE, repairing them really isn't an issue.

Marco.

Plenty of places where they get mentioned, here's just one of them:

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/thre...ervice.304594/

Post #19 by Arkless probably sums up the (potential) problems perfectly.

You're right about the vintage Sony CDPs, though I wouldn't describe them as 'plentiful'... you could buy one to provide spares for your own, but really there's no way of knowing whether that would last much longer either.

[Marco]

I've been using my Sony for the last 20+ years without a single fault - and it gets used plenty - as it's built to last, so if I had to buy another one for spare parts I'd have no reason to believe it wouldn't be just as reliable. No guarantees of course, but the history is there.

I'm not expecting you to go down this route yourself, as I know it's not your thing, but it works for me

Marco.

[Pigmy Pony]

I've been using my Sony for the last 20+ years without a single fault - and it gets used plenty - as it's built to last, so if I had to buy another one for spare parts I'd have no reason to believe it wouldn't be just as reliable. No guarantees of course, but the history is there.

I'm not expecting you to go down this route yourself, as I know it's not your thing, but it works for me

Marco.

That we do agree on, we're both happy with our lot, and long may that continue

[Lawrence001]

I've been using my Sony for the last 20+ years without a single fault - and it gets used plenty - as it's built to last, so if I had to buy another one for spare parts I'd have no reason to believe it wouldn't be just as reliable. No guarantees of course, but the history is there.

I'm not expecting you to go down this route yourself, as I know it's not your thing, but it works for me

Marco.

The problem is they may be reliable but if they last say 25 years with typical usage and yours goes, a similar generation one will be due to go around the same time. A newer one will last longer but probably not have the same components. If you can buy NOS of course that's different but they'll be rare as hens' teeth.

[Marco]

The problem is they may be reliable but if they last say 25 years with typical usage and yours goes, a similar generation one will be due to go around the same time.

That depends on how much usage it's had. You cannot predict these things. Anyway, I think I'll worry about this when something actually happens!

Marco.

[CageyH]

My Pioneer PD-S703 is between 30 to 32 years old and still operates flawlessly.
I did upgrade the op amps to Burson V6 Vivids that improved the sound, but these are now redundant, as I use the coax out into my DAC.
It was never a highend player, but works remarkably well as a transport.

If it breaks, I will see if my Alpha 7se still works.
I always wanted an Alpha 8se, and I saw one for sale locally recently.

[Lawrence001]

That depends on how much usage it's had. You cannot predict these things. Anyway, I think I'll worry about this when something actually happens!

Marco.

So you're not one of those audiophiles that keeps 5 of everything in case they break down? [emoji23]