Marantz CD-63 Mk.2 KI Signature – anyone heard one?

For a friend, I am looking for a secondhand CDP.

Spotted one of these for the surprising sum of £190, though the shop say they’ll do a good price on it for me.

Worth it?

Anyone else got something in the Bradford/Halifax area for sale that is worth considering?

I am unsure what the budget actually is, sorry 😉

I’ve got the “Special Edition” version of that, not got anything else to compare it to but there’s nothing wrong with it that I can hear. Saving it for my dad room in the attic when I’m 40 and hate my kids.

Make me an offer if you want it, nowhere near £190. If you’d asked last month you could have had the matching MP-66se amp and a tuner to go with it but I took them to the tip as the selector on the amp wasn’t working any more and who listens to FM at home?

[edit] just looked on ebay, maybe I shouldn’t have been in such a hurry to bin it!

I demo’d one of these and a marantz cd6000, both set up on the same system and I couldnt tell the difference what so ever.

I ended up with the cd6000.

Still, they both sounded amazing.

Used to sell these back in the day, they were £500 IIRC.

Well respected CD player that won a lot of awards, believe several magazines said it was the best sounding CD player for less than £1000

I was a hi-fi snob at the time though and couldn’t see past British made stuff so bought and Audiolab 8000CD instead.

If its good working order then it will still sound great today

I had the cd-62

Bought it from richer sound for £39 in their display demo sale

Sounded fine to me, when after 10 years or so it packed up, I sold it on fleaby for £90!

Apparently the loading meck was used in a top end unit and was a bargain!

Got the CD6000 KI which I think followed on from it. Seems a good and solid bit of kit and still working well.

I had one. Was distinctly underwhelmed, bought a Cyrus CD7 instead, which sounded far better to me. I think I paid a lot less than £190 and that was ten years ago.

This is good stuff guys.

TINAS – I’ll pass that message on.

I had the 63 special edition and it was a very good and reliable player, regret selling it, plenty on eBay, just look for a good example, and they are as cheap as chips. I would not pay anywhere close to £190 for the KI version, certainly not from a s/h electricals shop.

I listened to the 63SE but ended up getting the cheaper 67 – I never got completely submerged in audiophily (and was on a student budget) so I couldn’t really justify the difference in quality and price. The 63SE KI was my lust object for a while though, it was definitely a nice bit of kit.

I’ve still got the 67 and will be eBaying it shortly, just as soon as I’ve confirmed everything in my unused hi-fi stack is still in good working order! Offers welcome… (Arcam Alpha 5 amp and dinky little Mission 731 speakers too)

Interesting. I’ve got a 63SE I think. Was still working the last time I used it. Hopefully I put it into storage and not out on the street…..

Excuse my ignorance here but i thought a cd had music consisting of 1s and 0s and that a later picked them up.
If thats the case why would one cd player sound better than another. I thought it was the amp that converted the 1s and 0s to sound so i always thought thats where you needed to spend to get the sound quality. I’m probably completely wrong. Please explain it to layman like me.

Most CDPs have the DAC inside.

I use fibre optical digital outputs, but many don’t.

SNUK – tell me if you find it, I might as well collect as many offers as I can for him.

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Iolo, CD players consist of two main parts. A Transport, this is the part that spins the disc and reads off the 1s and 0s and the Digital to Analogue Converter that turns the bits in to an Analogue signal. The DAC will also contain a small amplifier to boost the signal to line level before its sent to the main amplifier. Quality of components in the Analogue side will make a big difference to the quality of the sound you get from the CD player

Had a cd63 se. After about ten years the bearings went and CDs would skip on the last few tracks. Bought a new transport mechanism and it was fine. However that was about 10 years ago so not sure if you’ll still be able to get the part. Just something to be aware of.

What RichMTB said, although I do know someone who ‘sound engineered’ a McFly concert from an Aldi portable CD player!

Pretty sure some of the internals on my cd6000 were phillips labelled!

Pretty sure some of the internals on my cd6000 were phillips labelled!

They probably were, Philips invented the CD, so you either had to licence the design from them, or buy it from them. The differences are in the DAC and the analogue bits.

It’s a bit like LCD/LED/Plasma screens. There are only a couple of manufacturers of the screens, everyone else is just sticking them in a black frame with their own electronics behind it.

Thanks for the input people, but he got something else sorted.

Pretty sure some of the internals on my cd6000 were phillips labelled!

What TINAS said plus IIRC Phillips owns/owned Marantz.

Ive got one of its older brothers. Wouldnt spend £190 myself but they are excelent cd players.

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I’ve got one. Sounds great to me, can be had for around £120 mark on ePay or forums.

I’ve gotten through 2 matching KI 66 Amps too, as it comes with a great Phono stage built in. First amp starting buzzing on RH channel, 2nd recently blew completely so back to my old Cambridge Audio amp.

Being a lazy fecker I much prefer using the CA remote to switch sources, but I do miss the warmth of the Marrantz amp.

Pretty sure the 63 KI CDP also uses Philips mechanisms, regularly available on ePay.