Make use of CD’s with B&O

[Oisans]

Good morning everybody,

My father has a lot of CD’s and one B&O Emerge. We were discussing recently and i thought i might ask for advice on this forum.

The general question is : what should we buy so that we can listen to CD’s (musical classic and jazz mainly) from the sound of B&O.

More specifically : if one were willing to put at most 3000€ for 1 or 2 B&O products, what CD player could be used, what B&O product would play it and what wires would be necessary to connect the 2 products ?

Of course, if buying a second Emerge and get stereo a way or another is possible, that would be financially efficient 🙂

 

Thank you for any input you would like to give 🙂

[cklit]

Hi Oisans,

What I would do, was to buy a decent used 3rd party CD player with an optical output (to connect to the optical input on Emerge) and then spend the rest of the money on a second Emerge.

It doesn’t get you that nice B&O control, but I bet you’ll enjoy the music even more in stereo.

[OlivierC]

Oisans wrote:

The general question is : what should we buy so that we can listen to CD’s (musical classic and jazz mainly) from the sound of B&O.

Hello,

here’s my take on this request.

If you want to hear the “sound of B&O”, you’d better benefit of the Emerge internal DAC.

This means that you would need to connect a CD player to the Emerge through its optical input.

Hereunder a (hopefully accurate and complete!) list of B&O CD systems / players equipped with digital out and few personal comments.

Disclaimer: B&O CD players have been discontinued many years ago, therefore the following options are 10+ years old as a minimum.

• Beosound 9000: a true classic, expensive if required to be serviced.
• Beocenter 2: nice but it is not an all-in-one solution, it is made of a main unit and a socket unit where all the connections are made. Personally I would prefer a single-box solution.
• Beogram CD7000: more traditional boxy design but still beautiful; a bit unpractical due to the very limited controls, unless the matching Beomaster is added to the set.
• Beogram CD6500: same as CD7000.
• Beogram CD5500: same as CD7000. This one is said to be one of the best sounding CD players ever made by B&O.
• Beogram CD4500: same as CD7000.
• Beogram CD3500: same as CD7000.
• Beogram CDX2: nice and not requiring extra parts but it is said to be not the most reliable player.

Another take and less risky solution might be to follow cklit’s suggestion, getting a new 3rd party CD player with optical out.

Olivier

[Rolf2]

Hello Oisans,

nice to hear that the B&O virus is spreading in your family 😀. I ´d like to add the BeoSound 3000 and 3200 to Olivier´ s list (and their predecessors like Overture, etc.). Together with the already mentioned BC 2 and 9000 they have the joint advantage that they can be remote controlled directly, being all-in-one music systems. Whereas for the solitary CD player your father would need an additional connecting Beomaster to do so. And in addition to the „B&O sound“ they offer a lot of „B&O magic“!

If you prefer to use a new up to date speaker or set of speakers, going along with the Emerge is a good way. I absolutely love my Emerge. Steve of Sounds Heavenly did a review of a pair of Emerges, concluding that they sound paired a good deal better than the single solution. I cannot contribute to that, listening to a single one only.

However, here’s my personal opinion, if you want to put a little emphasis on the „B&O sound“. I don ´t know through what music system and speakers your father listens to his CD collection. In case of classic and Jazz music I find the Emerge too limited regarding it´s sound capabilities. I would stress your given budget and propose you take the path to an iconic music system in combination with a pair of B&O speakers. E. g. like my set up of a BeoSystem 4500 (in case of your father Beomaster and BeoGram CD are sufficient) in combination with a pair of Beolab 3 speakers and a Beolab 11. Same speaker combination works very well with a BeoSound 9000. Then add a Beolink Converter NL / ML (BS 4500 requires a Beolink Converter 1611 additionally) and you can place the Emerge in another room and join the BeoSystem / -Sound and listen to CD via the Emerge. Put a little money in and buy a BeoRemote One Bluetooth, so you can access both systems with a handheld remote directly. Or, steer both, the BS 9000 and the Emerge, via the B&O App.

In your case, personally, I would opt for one of the Beosound music systems. Sliding glass doors, Aluminium wings, or six CD´ s on visible display, stopping always in the exact same position as they did start, that´ s beautiful and for me is part of the pleasure listening to music on a B&O music system. The modules of the Beosystems offer this magic as well, but – imo – then it has to be as part of a complete system.

Now I stop, but be aware that there are other systems / players which could be considered as well. BeoSound Moment with CD player module, BeoSound 5 with CD ripping device, BeoCenter 9500, ….

There are lots of possibilities, enjoy the journey!

Kind regards,

Rolf

[pepps]

 

• Beogram CD4500: same as CD7000.
• Beogram CD3500: same as CD7000.

Just to clarify, the CD4500 and CD3500 have full touch controls and a digital out so may be worth considering as a good cd player in this setup. Plus they both have nice moving lids and look fabulous in the dark – it’s not just about the sound with B&O it’s the theatre too (no pun intended).

[Stan]

I’ll second cklit’s advice.  Buy a 3rd party CD player with optical output and use the rest on a 2nd Emerge.

I don’t have an Emerge, but I know when I stereo paired my Balances, there was no going back. To my ears, the stereo pair sounds more than 2x better.

 

[Stephen]

This is a good discussion. I am still using my 25 year-old Beosound 9000 and it still sounds great connected to my 16 year-old BeoLab 1 speakers. The 9000 is now on its third CD drive but my local dealer can organise repairs and servicing. I think you can still buy 9000s but most if not all will have been refurbished. Still looks great too.

Stephen

[Peter]

The best B&O CD player is the BG5500. Has the best motor and usually the best chip set. It also has an optical out if that is what you want. It will however have very limited control unless used with a Beomaster as mentioned above but if listening to classical CDs, I imagine putting a CD in and pressing play will cover almost all options! If you are in the UK, I have a 5500 CD and master with remote that you could have on loan to see if it suits your needs. I confess to using a BC9500 as I like the looks, sound and ease of use.

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