Smooth Sound from the CC-3000
Written: Dec 08 '01
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Pros: Excellent sound. Quick loading/playing, can load cd's while playing another.
Cons: No "calendar" style display
The Bottom Line: A great cd-changer a great price. High fidelity sound reproduction with a bright sound.
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| EJRothman's Full Review: Marantz CC-4000 5-Disc CD Changer |
A month and a half ago I decided to sell my Sony Mini-System and upgrade to a full stereo system. My goal was to assemble a system consisting of a stereo receiver, cd-player, bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer. I already had the subwoofer, but for everything else I wanted to keep the price to $400. Things didn't work out that way, but I can pretty close.
It's important to know everything hooked up the cd-player because any one component can be a bottleneck in terms of sound quality. My system consists of the following components:
Onkyo TX-8511 Stereo Receiver
Marantz CC-3000 5-Disc cd changer
Mission 771 Bookshelf speakers
Acoustic Research ARS-108PS Active Subwoofer
Monster Cable IL-200 Interlink Cable
Phoenix Gold 12 Guage speaker wire
Some people like to buy components from the same company to ensure they have quality matches. I prefer to find the best deal on each component and match them myself.
Now for the review of the changer itself:
First off, this is a solid and attractive unit. The wide front loading tray opens up to reveal three of the five cd slots. A simple push of the load button on the tray itself rotates the position so you can load all five cds. A couple especially nice features is that there is a button on the tray that will "quick play" one of the cds. It is very convenient to just pop in a cd and hit the quick play button. The tray opens and closes both quickly and smoothly.
Also, due to the design of the player, you can load all four other cd's while one is still playing!! Very nice.
The player has all the standard features, skip, scan, shuffle, repeat, program, and time. CD's can also be played randomly or in any specified programed sequence. Time can display duration of song (default), time remaining in song, duration of disk, and time remaining on disc. The only complaint is that there is no calendar style menu displaying the number of tracks on the disk AND which is currently playing. Only the current track number is displayed
Now about sound quality: This unit plays sound crisply and clearly. I have only tested it in conjunction with the components listed above, so I don't know how it does with other pairings. Due to my personal tastes in music I prefer sound to be on the bright side. This player complies with this very well. My Mission speakers also play on the bright side.
One thing to note: My system is a reference system...the speakers are suited for reference sound reproduction as is the cd-player. This means that imperfections on the disk itself will be heard. If it's a bad recording you will hear the static, fuzz or distortion. Some cd-players mask this, but I feel if you want to listen to music it's better to hear what was recorded than to hear an "airbrushed" version. The laser, which is the same one used in Philips (the parent company of Marantz) cd-players is good at reading less than pristine discs. A few scratches do not stop it from working, and the player handles cd-r's as well.
Please don't use the cheap interconnect which ships with this player. It is not good quality and will create a sound bottleneck. Spend the $20 on a good interconnect- Monster Cable, Acoustic Research, etc. Or, even better, use a digital coaxial output
One last thing - The CC-3000 and CC-4000 are the same cd-changer with the exception that the CC-4000 has a volume control and headphone port. I do not see why anyone would care about those two features as the player needs to be hooked up to an amp/receiver anyway, and they always have those two features. Don't waste your money on the CC-4000. The CC-3000 is an excellent cd changer at a great price. I bought mine refurbished at www.accessories4less.com
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 129
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Epinions.com ID:
EJRothman
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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