Quote Originally Posted by Jeffrey N
I have owned a Yamaha RXV 2095 HT Receiver for four years and have never been happy with it, especially when playing CDs. I always found the sound, although very clear and accurate, too bland, with no presence or liveness to it. So I've been thinking about replacing it with either a Rotel 1075, or a Denon AVR 3805, maybe the 5803, but that is really beyond my budget, or a Yamaha RXV 2400. The first two sound much warmer too me. The last one, frankly, I have not auditioned.

But, recently I got a Cassette Tape Deck for my system, so that I could play the 500 or so cassettes that I had put in storage. The deck, by the way, is a TEAC 860R. As soon as I played my first tape, I noticed a huge improvement in the sound. It sounded warmer, clearer, more like the music was being played in my living room.

So here is my question: Is my problem, my receiver, or my CD Player? I have a Yamaha CDC 775 (was top of line 4 years ago). And would it make sense to replace my CD Player instead of my Receiver and save a ton of money? Or is the problem in my head?

Thanks for your responses.

Jeffrey N, Toronto.
My brother recently sold his 2095. While he owned it, it played CDs quite well. I know that one time he did have a Cal. Acoustics CD tube player on this receiver. However, he bought a Marantz CC65 multiplay unit which played extroadinary well on the 2095 with the analogue outputs on the Marantz. I would listen to some players out there and see which ones not only play the cleanest sound but also have at the same time the most dynamics and fullness of sound. What ever you choose, be sure you can get a money back guarantee on the unit. While you should try out the analogue outputs of the player you choose, if it has a coax or optical out on the player, you should also try that on the receiver as well. My brother;s previous receiver was an AM-FI Pro-Logic model. He had bought a Yamaha CD player for that unit. He had to return it because the Yamaha codes on the CD player conflicted with the operations of the AM-FI unit. He then put what I think was the Marantz unit on it. We noticed that the Yamaha did not play as loud as the Marantz CD unit. This could also be your case as well.