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Affordable$$Audio

Issue Three: March 2006

Marantz CD 5000 Player

By Stew Nelless

The Marantz CD 5000 is an inexpensive player commonly available throughout the world made by one of the budget leaders in digital. Is it as good as some of the previous models? Cosmetics, tactile feel, features and convenience The front panel has an uncluttered look and looks far more expensive than it is. It appears to be black anodized aluminum. It has withstood the test of time, showing no signs of wear and remaining good looking despite heavy use. The front panel has buttons that are easy to read and the controls are intuitive. No confusing labels or jargon type controls are included. The buttons are round and of good sizeno micro buttons and 1001 controls on this one. The display is easy to read and offers enough information. More equipment at this price level could learn from the simple but well thought out controls and display. The people at Marantz deserve honourable mention regarding the industrial design. The feel of the buttons and controls is typical of inexpensive componentsthey simply dont instill much confidence. The player itself is quite light in weight, quite common in its price range. What continues to be uncommon is the inclusion of a digital out, allowing one to record to other digital formats. Apparently it can also be used as a text reader (from cd rom). The owner of this player commonly records to minidisc via the optical digital output for his listening pleasure while on the go. (He also uses his Sony MD to record live sound bites and audio tracks him and his bandmates play while practising). So good looks, pretty good convenience and facilities but a little cheap feeling (although no more than most other machines in its price range). It also includes a headphone jack on the front panel. I did no listening via headphones, not any digital recording as I do not have the facilities to do such. The sound? An enigma. Listening to Sharon Shannons Blackbird (Celtic Heartbeat Collection, UBD #53084), there was no apparent lack of bass, toe tapping happened spontaneously. Michael Jacksons Billy Jean is absolutely ruthless to treblebut it was enjoyable. A little on the verge of being overly bright, but this was through a pair of Musical Fidelity MC2 loudspeakers (which happen to have an absolutely humdinger of a tweeter in them, the ). Thriller was fun to listen too as well (it almost always is!). Fundamentally the midrange seems Affordable$$Audio !
right, but the frequency extremes are ragged. The loudspeaker boxes dont have a canned sound to them, but that characteristic was apparent on some material. I have a penchant for listening to female vocals and generally wasnt displeased with the results, but something just didnt seem quite right. Loreena McKennitts Marco Polo ( Book of Secrets, WEA CD19404) was very enjoyable (and I dont know why, by all accounts I shouldnt have found it enjoyable at all). Joni Mitchells Magdalene Laundry (the Chieftains, Tears of Stone, BMG-RCA, 09026-68968-2) wasnt unenjoyable. I really questioned the magnitude of the midrange vs. the frequency extremes. I did manage to listen to a little Jimi (Best of Hendrix, Experience Hendrix LLC, MCA, MCMMD 11671). Stone Free was listenable, and the production qualities are very apparent its often not (Eddie Kramers magic at work no doubt). In summary. The only review I was able to find via the Internet was from 2000, HiFi Choice ( ), another thumbnail review, not unlike this one. Surprise, surprise, surprise! (in my best Jim Nabors Gomer Pile caricature). A similar outcome! Now the $64 question, could I live with this player? Yes. Failings only were readily apparent when I did a direct comparison with my modified Sony PS1. The PS1 has better frequency extremes, and an overall smoother presentation. Could I recommend it to people I like? Yes. Would I sleep at night? That depends on the rest of their system. If their speakers have a slightly rolled off top end and a slightly plump bottom, then definitely. If they listen to small scale jazz or well recorded rock, hmmm, ok. And if they have speakers which simply are not capable of deep bass. Ya. Or if they simply could not or would not up the ante.

1416 N. La Brea Ave Hollywood, CA 90028 p. 323.856.6680 f. 323.856.2712 www.hensonrecording.com

Studio D Equipment List

SSL SL 4072G+ with Ultimation Augsperger Main Monitors Yamaha NS-10M 1 Studer A800 MKIII 1 Digidesign Pro Tools HD3 System - 24 in / 48 out Mac G5 Dual 2 Gig with 23 Inch Cinema Display 1 Apogee Big Ben Master Clock 2 Timeline Lynx 1 Brainstorm SR-A&M A/D/A and Digital Router dB Technologies 3000S Sony PCM-7010 Panasonic SV-3700 ML 9600 Masterlink Marantz CD5000 Tascam 122MKIII AMS dmx 15-80 S AMS rmx 16 DBX 902 Drawmer DS 201 Eventide H3500 DFX Lexicon 480L Lexicon 300 Lexicon PCM 70 Lexicon PCM 42 Roland/AES SDE-3000 One Shot Yamaha SPX990 Yamaha SPX1000 Yamaha REV5 Yamaha REVNeve API 912C 2 API 560 API 550A API 554 GML 8200 Pultec EQP-1A Pultec EQP-1A3 Pultec EQP-1 DBX 160 DBX 160X Fairchild 670 Teletronix LA-2A UREI 1176LN UREI LA-3A