New guy has a CD player question

[Crud]

I am a relative newbie and have recently stepped up from some very old (1970's) mass market equipment.

I have an Arcam AVR 250 Receiver and Spendor S5E Speakers. I am looking to invest in a good quality CD player that would match up nicely. Would matching this equipment up to a Naim CD5i CD player be overkill... or underkill...? What other alternatives should I be exploring?

Any counsel as to what would match up nicely would be greatly appreciated. I have been reading up on a lot of my options and I believe that I have been getting some very good advice from a local hi-fi shop, but I would value the opinions from some of you who have a lot more experience than I do. Thanks...

[Aussie Geoff]

Crud,

Don't forget the Arcam range - the CD73, 83 and (my favourite) 93 are all worth considering - depending on the price in your country... I've heard great things about their new CD192.

All would be a nice match for your Arcam reciever!

Geoff

[Bam!]

...well the Naimcd5i is an incredible player....It would IMO give some beef to your system..

A few buddies of mine have it...I almost bought it....if I would not have discovered the Copland CDA 822...

This being said though...If you like the laid back and relaxed sound of Arcam...then maybe you should look into their players...

For me....whatever that's worth... I find too much Arcam seems to hold back the sound...it never wants to let loose...It remains "pretty"

The warmth of the Arcam players however is bar none...

[ti33er]

Hi, just my 2c, but before you splash out serious money on a "good" CD player (seeing as SACD/DVDA will supercede CDs in the near future IMO) I would recommend first having a listen to a "Cambridge Audio Azur 640C"/comparing it side by side to your proposed purchase.

Being a previous Azur 640C owner, for the money I cannot fault this machine, not only does it sound great or happen to be relatively inexpensive (a meagre £250 in the UK), the build quality is absolutely superb by any standard!

Check out http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/640c_cd.html and for a decent sized image: http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/azurpix/540c_150.jpg

Personally I back the rave reviews on this baby (I sold mine simply because I want to get a good universal player soon) ...don't mean to slate your choice, but better to try before you buy...let your ears do the buying!

[Crud]

Thanks for the help everyone. I guess part of the fun in this will be just trying to figure out what to do next. I will do my homework on this gear and see what I can get my hands on to listen to. Thanks again.

Regards,
Sam