A Silly Question That Must Be Asked

[Freddo]

I've recently built some large speakers that, to my ears, sound absolutely outstanding. Better than anything I've heard--ever. And they're from a design on this website.

And get this; I'm feeding them with a Denon AVR9100 receiver and an old Pioneer dvd player!

With a budget limit of about 250 quid, is there any CD player anyone could recommend that would sound much better than the Pioneer dvd player?

[pre65]

Have you considered going digital ?

(ie converting your CDs to FLAC files on a hard drive and using a media player like Sonus or Squeezebox)

PS What are the speakers ?

[Nick]

Try using the DAC in the receiver against the analog output of the DVD, see if there is a difference. Maybe look at one of the cheap DAC kits off ebay, maybe look at the t-amps and that sort of thing. What I am suggesting is may be able to get more improvements by keeping the DVD as a digital source and updating what follows.

[steve s]

Try using the DAC in the receiver against the analog output of the DVD, see if there is a difference. Maybe look at one of the cheap DAC kits off ebay, maybe look at the t-amps and that sort of thing. What I am suggesting is may be able to get more improvements by keeping the DVD as a digital source and updating what follows.

Thats true Nick, i've tried loads of cd/dvd players and i've now got the veiw that any old player can be pretty good as long as a good external dac is used, the differences are quite big as you know... But some of the budget dacs i've had have made little difference
The new bushmaster i would guess would be in there, i would guess yours is slight over the budget..
and with a t amp... i bought a caseless t amp for £30
It gets used off a 12 vt battery, sounds much better than it should for the cost

[pre65]

Those EBay AK4393/4396 DACs take some beating at that price , even in standard form.

I still use a first generation Yamaha CD player in my office system.

[Freddo]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions;I'll give some of them a try.

Pre65: I'd love to tell you what the speakers are but I can't. The designer didn't give details so I had to work it out myself. And I have to respect his wishes to keep the design private.

[pre65]

Pre65: I'd love to tell you what the speakers are but I can't. The designer didn't give details so I had to work it out myself. And I have to respect his wishes to keep the design private.

Say no more, nudge nudge.