Hi.. I'm thinking of getting CEC TL51XR CD player. It'a a japanese brand with top loading belt drive mechanism. Had a chance to demo this model and it sounded great. Price is around US$1200. Anyone heard of this player? How does it compare to others in the similar price range? Thanks in advance!
I have recently demo'd the CEC player you mention. I found its sound to be warm and lush, and very nice to listen to. The thing I liked most is that the sound is un-fatiguing, I could just turn up the amp, and the sound just opened up, great soundstage, very nice detail also.
I did not find it to be the last word in dynamics, but did find it to be extremely listenable. Bottom line the CEC is a CD player I could live with. I certainly find it competitive with others in its price range, and prefered this machine to a Cyrus 8x and Arcam CD 192.
But of course you must decide for yourself.
The CD player that everyone seems to be buzzing about at the moment is the Rega Planet. I have not heard the planet, so I cannot comment, but based on the buzz I would advise if you can to hear the Planet. It may be difficult in Jakarta. Other player to consider is the Naim CD5i, again you may have problems finding one in Indonesia.
For what its worth I think the CEC is a very fine player, I could happily live with it.
Also the engineering on the CEC is very good, it has a very good DAC and analogue output stage, and of course the famous CEC transport. With the exception of the Rega, and Naim players I don't think there is anything else that can compete with the CEC, it is a fine machine IMHO. It offers a good long term proposition with its highly listenable sound.
Thanks for your input. After listening to some options, i finally bought the CEC. I couldn't find Rega and Naim in Jakarta, but I managed to demo Arcam 192, Cyrus CD8x, Primare CD 21 and Musical Fidelity A5. In my opinion, CEC is better compared to Arcam and Cyrus and my choices were down to CEC and MF. MF has a warmer sound with its tube output but CEC is better in terms of detail and soundstage. It's a tough choice but since the MF is more expensive at around US$2000, I finally went for the CEC.