It’s a crazy old world really. While most of us settle for compact Hi-Fi units, the rest spend countless time, effort and money buying separate components, believing that ultimately, it provides a superior listening experience. I am one of these fools, who at sometime in the past, found himself with a few extra pounds (in the bank) and decided to buy a home cinema amplifier (see Yamaha review) You must understand that once you have purchased one unit, a compulsive retail madness overcomes your body and you find yourself getting DAB tuners, double cassette decks and a whole multitude of speakers and then not forgetting 16 miles of industrial sized audio cable, which is about as inconspicuous as placing a giraffe in the corner of your living room.
However, once I have got my amp and experienced this `wonderful` sound, I needed a CD player and I couldn’t have got better than the Marantz CD4000.

Marantz are well known for quality products, so I really didn’t need much convincing to get this one. The important thing about separates is balancing your components to create an overall lively but controlled sound, which can be tricky. Your speakers reproduce the sound, the Amp decodes it but your CD player creates it, making it an important starting point in the audio process. The Marantz is sharp and clear, with a very distinct vivid, vibrant sound that would clean up even the most bass orientated systems. It lacks depth however, which would disappoint the bass lovers out there and I find it prefers rock tracks rather than dance or R&B. The old classics belt out nicely, like Mike and the Mechanics `Living Years` and Mike Oldfield’s `Moonlight Shadow`.

As this is pretty much the standard machine in the Marantz range, there is not too much to wave my arms stupidly in the air about. It does come with a remote (hooray!) and the simple things in life such as repeat, random and AB repeat, a useless feature for looping any section of a song which makes it sound like the CD’s stuck.
The remote is small and quite easy to misplace and I find myself looking twice at the buttons to work out which one to use. I give thanks to Marantz for providing a headphone socket, with volume switch, which is great for freeing up your amp for other things, whilst your other half listens to Sheryl Crow (I speak from experience)
A good amount of features for a budget machine.

`Solid. Solid as a rock` so the song goes. Marantz are well known for strength of build. It won’t quite survive a drop from the top of the stairs and don’t ask me to attempt it.
Its easy to use, with simple PLAY and STOP buttons on the fascia, which will please those fed up with masses of buttons and lights. The remote is a tad unclear but also simple to operate.
Finished in attractive black, it should fit in with your existing gear, unless like me you have a nasty mix of silver and black at the moment. The look of the unit is simple but attractive, with a modern finish. Looks like an expensive piece of kit, with the Marantz logo finished in gold to make you feel like a king (or queen)

This little CD spinner is a beauty for the money, with a price tag of about £100, you’ll be hard pushed to find a balanced, quality CD player at the same price. Sure, the Technics ones are good but lack clarity and tend to be bulky and cheap looking. With a remote and headphone socket, you don’t need much more on a CD player. Added together with the fact batteries and cables are supplied, your onto a winner here.

Very true and most modern DVD players can produce sound almost as well as a dedicated CD player but it will matter to a true audiophile. A CD player has a higher quality DAC (Digital Analogue Converter) and will reproduce sound in more detail.
If you play a lot of music, your DVD player may not stand the test of time and is more expensive to replace.

Speakers - Try bass speakers such as the B&W 600 range or the larger missions. It will deliver good sound from bookshelf speakers but at higher bass levels on your amp.
Amp - Not so fussy with these but best to avoid sensitive amps that deliver more treble orientated sound. The Marantz tends to concentrate on the higher frequency range and an amplifier with too much clarity and not enough bass, will contort the sound into one high pitched squeak.