savoy014

I managed to acquire an almost mint condition pre-owned Marantz CD6003 recently. Brand new, this CD player is priced at a modest SGD 388 in Singapore, pricing it in the mid-entry level category. Once upon a time, long long ago, a CD player of this build and sonic quality would cost at least two to three times the retail price of the CD6003. It's nice to see that the price of quality kit like this has come down over the years. The CD6003 is quite a handsome player and has good build and heft (slightly over 5 kg). The chassis is fairly rigid with a double layered bottom plate and compared to the SA8003, the immediate giveaway in cost cutting is an extremely flimsy CD tray. Based on the Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC and Marantz's proprietary HDAM SA2 analog output stage, the CD6003 packs fairly advanced technology for a player of its modest price. An IEC socket permits you to play around with after market AC cords if you wish. Popping the hood yields no surprises, with three circuit boa...

Cary Audio's SLI-80 Signature Special Edition amp is now in the house ! Jaguar blue finish. Output tubes - KT88, 6550/KT88, EL34, 6CA7. Choose your favourite poison. Rear socket and trim pots are for bias adjustment WBT Binding Posts Also functions as a headamp. The headamp runs through the tube circuit and is not the usual separate opamp circuit Initial impressions were that of a very powerful sounding amp with good grip on the bass (not always a given with tube amps), but a slightly coarse midrange and moderate resolution. Thankfully, the sound opened up and the coarseness disappeared after a few hours of play time. It runs even hotter than my Cayin A-88T which tells you something !  Don't even think of placing this in an enclosed cabinet. Like the Cayin, the SLI-80 is based on a pair of KT-88 power tubes per channel in push pull configuration, with 6DJ8/6922 (the Cayin uses 6SL7 tubes here) input tubes and a 6SN7 phase splitter. The SLI-80 may also use K...