very warm sound.
seems louder as compare with others CD players

not at all

Recently, i had brought two CD-players for the 2 hifi sets that i am to set up in my new house.
the Marantz for the secondary cheaper set, with the Denon 1880AR for my main hall.
To my surprise, the Denon 1880AR (at SG$600) don't sound at all better than the (SG$180) Marantz CD4000.

i exchange the Denon for Rotal RCD-971, and found that it is better than Denon, but about same standard as the basic Marantz.

finally, i conclude that i had no regretted in buying this Marantz and at this pice - it proved 5 stars!!

Similar Products Used:

Denon 1880AR, Rotel RCD-971

open warm sounding player.Fair marantz like smoothness and bass the companies famous for,as featured in most models,the bigger brothers having better focus and a more extent over this ofcourse.

gets a bit muddled up in complex passages,but for the price it still sings.

Marantz brought out the new 2000 models to replace old faithfull 67 etc.The previous models in there time represented good value,and marantz aclaimed best buys in numerous aspects.Since then they had to follow up on there praise,a bit of a wieght on there shoulder,bit have pulled it of very nicley ,bringing out the cd 4000,5000, and 6000 in three models.

The cd 4000 representing a rather cheap philips dac and chassis composition,to cut out costs,also features cdr and digital out.

The digital out may appeal to others,especialy thinking that this is a rather cheapish player,and you may bust the budget later for a dac upgrade,a rather reasuring feature to "excite" the price to people really wanting a higher end player.

Price aside this player has a very smooth warm sound,mid band seems quite crisp and clear ,but at low levels may seem a little muddy,but when you turn it up,it tends to open up quite a bit.This is a common thing in budget players,but correct system matching can dampen the problem somewhat.That aside and remembering the not so heafty price,it performs somewhat detailed and warm,with bass not to much of a issue ,if its to little for you(id hope that you were system matching correctley,and not running a plinius amp without eq)just turn it up a bit,after all this is a budget sytem,and we gota make do.

Onto the build,to me the plain plastic cover is not appealing at all,display is also lame,but then remember that marantz doesn't want to waist money on exotic metal face plates,on such a budget player,and it reasures me,after all id rather that the money "all" go to the sound of the player,and if im buying the highest end player ill expect the best in every aspect,such as that.
What about the chassis then?You could go far worse than this,allthough it isnt a copper dipped,alloy based,gold trimmed,silver lined chassis,it shouldent impare the sound too much,a cheap tweak would be new feet,i find myself saying again,and maby some liners to "ungong"the chassis,play around.But that aside the build in general isnt bad.

Transport?
To the few who might find the cash in the distant ,far,future(thinking of me again) for a upgrade,lets talk about that.The player doesnt have the best dacs ever put into any player(philips cheap ghat dacs)but they are good enough for the player,and unless you really cant take the thought of having a "cheap cd setup"after a while,youll find yourself buying a external upgrade,but soon after a new transformer,out put stage,digital clock etc etc etc
Becuse theres no point in having a really cheap transport to weaken the sytem with a "audio correct dac",but if you find a dac that seems to make any formidable difference ,and its not to pricey a upgrade,buy all means then.

How do its brothers compete then?
All the cd-000 range that marantz represents,have had no problems,with fussy phile reviews and panelists trieng to pic up every audio, pricise uncorretivness they didnt find to meany,(atleast its what they sound like to us,not other people)And cd 6000 and ose fetching some nice best buys,the whole range seems to do well,in there own respective levels.
Unfortunatley every time i read a review or article that ends in"nice but doesnt have quite the focuse of its nearer brother"i want the next best bigger brother,and so even though the 4000 has good timbre ,im not going to be happy untill i charge a cd 6000 to my budget,active low pass filters,two dacs in diff stage,best buy,hmmmmmmmmmmm sounds good doesnt it.

All aside this player is highley recomended by me,it deffinatley has a very respectable sound,and you wont miss any detail(even if you have to slightly concentrate a little harder at times)ok maby a little,but it has a good soundstage too,especialy considering the price.If you looking for a player ,the sweet cherry on top to your budget,in this price range,seriously include this one in your auditions,you wont regret it.
looks 4 stars but 5 everywere else.ps i typed very fast,to get through this not so short review so please excuse my spelling. djmercury@ananzi.co.za for people wanting to type more than 1000 units to me.

Similar Products Used:

rotel,amc,denon etc

detail,imaging,timbre

none at this price

All the positive things I listed above. A steal at this price. No problem w cd-r haven't tried cd-rw. This player alone kicked much more than with Parasound dac connected. Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

quad 66, nad 5000, nad501, parasound dac1000

Remote control, volume, coax optical out. Very cheap too.

Plasticky build

Nice little player. Picked it up for 100 pounds sterling, which ain't bad. A real improvement on my mini system.

Value-for-money; Great sounding, despite the low cost; plenty of frills for the buck, nice & cute practical remote

General build quality; Disc drawer flimsy; LED display

The CD-4000 is my first hi-fi setup ever. (All components - brandnew too). Just could not believe the ability of this RM580.00 (GBP105 or USD150) player. The sounds (IMO) is sweet, stable, has 'oooomph' and delicate at the same time. I am not familiar with the performances of other megabucks CD players. To me the CD4000 serves my needs with enough gusto and character.

Track reading is fast and decisive. Digital volume control. There are enough features (proven CD-R playback, 30-track programming, fade-in/out, editing facilites, digital [electrical] out, neat little remote packing a whallop of abilities, etc) to make this USD150 price seem unreal. In fact, it's a steal.

The other side of the coin :

- Sensitive to vibrations - just a moderate whack on the top plate will send the tracking jumping

- The disc drawer wobbles (open or closed)

- The dot-matrix LED display, no doubt has 'fuzzy logic' to inform/scroll information e.g. 'wrong track selection','Volume MAX" etc.. is almost invisible ! when new, the display was bright and easy to read. After 8 months, the display just got dimmer and dimmer and reading it became unbearable (Note : there is no option to dim the display!). Sent back for replacement of display unit. Worked fine. Today, another 5 months later after the 1st replacement, it is back to it's old tricks. Wo Kee Hong (Malaysia) - sole agent/importer for Malaysia warranties the CD4000 for 24 months though

- power cord is the 'light-duty' type and not replaceable

Despite these few -ve points, i am very happy with the CD4000 for its sonic capabilities (for RM580 !!). I don't think Malaysians can get a cheaper comparable CD player for the dough. (I've read the Malaysian "The Star" daily newspaper that there is someone, Millenium Hi-Fi, offering to soup-up the CD4000 to greater heights, for RM1499. Here, the soup dished out will be to re-clock,change a number of resistors/capacitors to higher rated, higher quality components. Pls check out www.thestar.com.my and go to 'audiofile' section to view.

Overall, the marantz CD4000 delivers performance at a great price.

My system:-

marantz CD4000 CD Player;
ROTEL RA-931 Mk.II (35W/ch, 8-ohms);
Rogers LS1 'bookshelf' loudspeakers on 24-inch steel stands;
TaraLabs 'Prism Klara' 16-ga speaker wires;
AudioQuest 'Ruby' interconnects.

Similar Products Used:

Nil - 1st ever system

best to value, Clear & accurate Sound, easy to use, can play CD-RW

LCD display is not clear, difficult to find this model

I can't believe that I can buy such a high-quality CD player in such a low price. The sound is amazing and clear. When I was listening the Hotel California, the intro part was impressing and I could hear the every melody of guitar sound. I strongly recommend this CD player to all beginners.

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDP-CX210

best to value, Clear & accurate Sound, easy to use, can play CD-RW

LCD display is not clear, difficult to find this model

I can't believe that I can buy such a high-quality CD player in such a low price. The sound is amazing and clear. When I was listening the Hotel California, the intro part was impressing and I could hear the every melody of guitar sound. I strongly recommend this CD player to all beginners.

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDP-CX210

Audio is impressive,the possibility to read Cd-Rw

none for the moment

One of the best cd i've never used. The sound is clear, and this is important for me. Other than this is possible reading cd-r and cd-rw. The remote is easy to use. Maybe the screen is not so easy readable, but for me is not a problem.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Tecnhics

Full bodied, warm, open

slight muddiness, unfocused midband

All in all a very "value for money" product. Although it gets to sound a bit messy during loud complex passages, this product is still best in its price range. An overall performer!!

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDP-XA 30ES, Marantz CD6000

sound & workmanship (in relation to price), looks, remote, operation manual

none so far

I got a brand new CD-4000 for as less as $130 on ebay, with a look at the quite high retail prices for Marantz-gear in Austria a real steal.
The HiFi-world is a brand new chapter to me, so don't expect any comparisons with something as exotic as Burmester or Arcam. In general, I think you get what you pay for (and with this player maybe even a little bit more...)

Build-Quality & Appearance
Right out of the box the great looks amazed me. The cleared-up front with the big display and smoothly shaped buttons is made out of plastic, but looks quite precious, at least a lot better than everything I've seen before on budget-electronics. The remote control is tiny, well-shaped, fits exactly into my hands; a good alternative to the bulky ones made by Denon & Co. However, it's not the most powerful IR-device, so you have to point it to the player while giving commands. One thing I hate is fragile cd-trays. The Marantz-tray (like the whole unit) seems to be quite stable, so nothing to worry about.

Inside
I'm one of those people that take everything they get into their hands to pieces... so I did with the player. With the cover opened, two things come to notice:
1. The engineers surely did not suffer space-problems; The little transformer is the only part on the right side, the drive & PCB-board are located on the left. Half of the case is empty (by the way, I do not think other players of the same class are different here).
2. Marantz, as a 100%-Phillips-daughter-company has made a "raid" through the Phillips OEM-catalogue; apart from many other parts, the drive also seems to come from them.

Sound
I have nothing to complain here. Maybe a little bit pronounced sibilants, but bass is great and firm. In my opinion, as good as it can get in the sub-$200-range. By far better than my portable, of course not as high-end as a Burmester.

Additional features:
CD-R and RW-compatibility
Coax-Out

Conclusion
I had to cut down the cost of my system in order to stay in my (quite tight) budget. I did it on the cd-player and do not regret it. However, if you have a bit more money to spend than I had, I strongly recommend you to listen to the bigger Marantz-models CD-5000 & 6000, the Arcam 7 and the Rotel-units.

Marantz has a great unit here in the entry-level-sector. I fell in love with this neat little player that replaced the CD-38 in the Marantz product-range from the first moment on. And I think it's really worth every penny I paid for it. That's maybe the best praise any company can get for their products.

My system:
Bowers&Wilkins Domestic Monitor 601 S2 speakers
Rotel RC972 preamp
Rotel RB981 power amp
Marantz CD4000 player
Sennheiser HD590 headphones
Oehlbach cables