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Out with the new.....

Del monaco

Del monaco

Del Monaco
Just put together a rather lovely 2nd hand system whilst contemplating my re-entry into the hi-fi. I'm rather taken by the honesty of these products and their budget defying qualities. I've bought a Nad 320BEE, a Rotel RCD 965BX and a Denon TU 260L tuner. They're in lovely condition and all in all it cost me around £200. They're playing through my B&W floorstanders. The amplifier is very neutral and has enough grip to cope with the dynamic swings of my varied classical music. The Rotel is a revelation. Beautiful, full and non-fatiguing sound with lovely midrange detail and a lovely transport. The Denon is full sounding and satisfying, though a little sibilant on some vocal segments. Not sure how I could minimise this.It takes me back to those exciting days when I bought my first rig. I may look at adding a Dac to supplement my streaming and possibly attach to the Rotel. Does anybody else have experience of these products?
Del
 
The 965BX is a super CD player and something of a giant killer.

I'm sure it's a great little system.
 
I've just added some isolation feet and some Nordost cables I had lying around and it reduced some thickening in the lower mids. Really nice CD player sound and thoroughly enjoying some live Diana Krall at this moment.
 
I use my 20+ year old the RCD 965BX into an MDAC for the CDs I haven't ripped yet. I recall it was pretty good into an Audiolab 8000a. It's even better into the MDAC. Certainly built to last unlike the Roksan Caspian that replaced it that failed just after the warranty period expired.
 
That's interesting. How did the Rotel sound when you connected it to the MDac?Did you feel there was a positive change?
 
It wasn't unplug from one into the other. It had been in the loft for about 10 years. When the Caspian failed I didn't bother with CDs for a while. By the time I realized I wasn't going to rip all of the CDs I decided to get the Rotel out and use it's digital output. I did a few tests comparing a ripped CD played via Squeezebox Touch with the same thing played through the Rotel. I couldn't discern any difference. Sorry, I'm in the "bit is bits" school of thinking and didn't expect to hear any difference.
 
I used to own a 965 and a 260, I think they are now with my parents where they get switched on, ooh, maybe as often as once a year. Both are really good products, they were raved about at the time. Certainly the tuner was the item to have for the whole of the 90s. I don't think that there is a fix for the tuner other than to ensure that it has a good aerial. I always found mine to be hard work on a weak signal. The NAD I don't know but they make good equipment.

I don't think that there has been much progress in conventional hifi of late. There are a few exceptions and innovations like Class D, but the mainstream manufacturers are still churning out developments of circuits that were drawn up 40 years ago.
 
gct said:
It wasn't unplug from one into the other. It had been in the loft for about 10 years. When the Caspian failed I didn't bother with CDs for a while. By the time I realized I wasn't going to rip all of the CDs I decided to get the Rotel out and use it's digital output. I did a few tests comparing a ripped CD played via Squeezebox Touch with the same thing played through the Rotel. I couldn't discern any difference. Sorry, I'm in the "bit is bits" school of thinking and didn't expect to hear any difference.
Click to expand...

OK.Useful information.I just wondered whether there would be discernable differences between the bitstream technology of the Rotel Dac and more modern applications.
 
I'll perhaps look at another tuner like a Creek or something comparable. I prefer FM(R3 listener) to Dab and Internet versions so it's worth building on. I like the look of some silver fronted Yamaha tuners but not sure how they'll perform in comparison to the Denon. Any suggestions? I could go up to £60 perhaps, as long as I can distract SWMBO.
 
Del, I've a few vintage tuners I acquired from the "haul" I bought on here a few months ago. Vintage,Sansui,Rotel, and Sony and a more modern Audiolab 8000T I'd sell cheap.
 
I've heard of the T43 's reputation but they appear hard to source. Anybody have any views on the CA T5000. I believe it was designed by Creek. Plain looking, but would it be better the Denon?
 
Gaius said:
The 965BX is a super CD player and something of a giant killer.
Click to expand...

Seconded. The first CD player I bought (new when current) and one I found very hard indeed to upgrade from. In fact I ended up with a Naim CDX and then went back to another 965BX from there as whilst the Naim beat the Rotel on spectacularly well recorded and mastered CDs I found it rather a hard listen on less perfect source material. The Rotel just found the good in everything and presented it in an easy-going almost analogue manner.

PS FWIW I consider the current Cambridge 651C to be kind of the 965's spiritual successor once burnt-in and used on it's 'minimum phase' filter - a similarly easy to listen to and very analogue presentation that I actually prefer to my Rega Apollo-R/DAC on much material even though it's fairly obvious the Rega gets more information off the disc. It's a very impressive player for the asking price.
 
That's friendly confirmation that I appear to have made a good choice.My previous excursions into hifi have all been a little expensive and fretful and perhaps misguided. I think I'll be staying in the second-hand arena for now and see what I can achieve for in small steps for relatively little expenditure. My Clearaudio turntable is getting some renewed life through a basic CA Phono amp and does sound nice. Good times.
 
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