Just to let you know that there is not always a bargain to be had.
Following very good reviews by Hi-Fi Sound, and WHFS&V I took the advice and bought one today from Richer Sounds.
It took about five minutes to set up the new machine, but it had a fault with the tray mechanism, on pressing open, the tray duly opened, but with a CD loaded, it would not load.
I thought a little gentle assistance was in order, so I gently pushed the tray home and lo and behold up came the message 'Toc Reading, No Disc'
After several trys, I gave up and took it back, no trouble there got a replacement with no fuss, (well it is Richer Sounds).
On setting up the replacement machine, the same problem manifested itself,now call me a synic, if you like, but this model was a retail price of £269.99 when it was launched, in the May issue of WHFS&V, they championed it again, and said it's even better value at Richer Sounds now, at £199.99, an absolute bargain.
Not true, I am going back tomorrow and have agreed to have one of Cambridge Azur models instead, at the same price!
Following my earlier missive regarding the Marantz CD6002 Player, I have now exchanged the second faulty model for a Cambridge Audio Azur 640C V2. This is a very well built machine, and I am pleased with it's performance so far, it seems possibly more suited to classical music, but that may change as it gets time to be run in.
The additional cost above the Marantz is is well worth it in my opinion. One slight sting in the tail, Richer Sounds have this model as priced at £229.95 in their in-house catalogue, but charged me £249.95 on the day.
I have raised this with them, it seems the in store price is correct, but their catalogue and internet price is £229.95, and is put down to an error, the good news? they will honour the catalaogue price, when I next go to the store.
More than one message in a day, how can you resist?
Remember my previous memo about the Cordless Sennheiser RS130 Headphones? I have never received a reply from their Head Office in Germany, and so I have decided that I will boycot their products from now on.
I have now purchased a pair of Beyerdynamic RSX700's from Amazon at £82.00, these work very well, are very comfortable to wear, and sound great.
Slight design problem though, the left hand ear cup has to be removed to insert the re-chargeable batteries, that is if you can get it off, I struggled, and then phoned their HQ in the UK, to be told they were difficult, as they are a very tight fit. but to keep trying!!!!
Which I did, having got the ear cup off by attaching a good sized lump of Blue Tak to it to avoid hurting my finger tips, this held well, whilst I turned the ear cup, good, now the problem is to ensure that it is replaced tightly, not easy, despite following instructions, it has already fallen off three times!. However I think it is now OK, as my latest attempt to fix it seems to have worked.
One final note, I have now replaced my Sennheiser HD540's (circa 1982) with a new pair of Beyerdynamic DT 860's, these are superb, both for comfort and sound quality, and can recommend them to anyone considering new phones at a decent price, I paid £99.98
