The Most Controversial Question

[Masterlu]

This is a serious question, and I didn't want to do a poll. I wanted comments from my most respected friends here.

Here goes; if you were only going to choose one, which would it be and why?

Burmester 089 CD player & 088 Pre-amp





Or

ClearAudio Statement turntable, maxed out



I have been looking at the Statement for sometime now.

[Still-One]

Burmester. Because I would use it.

JIm

[jwhite613]

Wow! That turntable is beautiful. I love vinyl.

[Vintage Pete]

The turntable pic isn't showing up here for some reason...just an "x". I have, however, seen photos of the statement, and it's easy to see why it is called the statement. It is quite a creation, with quite a price tag!

Jim may have a point, each of us might ask which component would really get the usage. But we all know you set up a serious analog rig at the cape and it does get used. The Burmester gear is beautiful, and you have mentioned you intend to set up a dedicated Burmester room.

I guess it isn't clear to me where you would use this turntable, in what system?

As to which I would do, personally...if I could afford gear at this level-I think I would have to see it the way Jim does. But that's just me....


Pete

EDIT: Now the turntable pic is showing up. What a beauty!

[joeinid]

If I were into vinyl, had a better room and solid floor, the ClearAudio Statement turntable hands down. Add a nice McIntosh setup and be done!

[Doug Lax]

I second Jim..... keep the Burmester

[cmalak]

Ivan...I would go with the 089 or the 088 over the Statement turntable. My logic is as follows: first of all your Clearaudio Innovation Wood tt is phenomenal and you get amazing sound as it is from that table with the Universal tonearm and the top of the line Clearaudio carts you have fitted on there. The price of admission for the sonic benefits beyond what the Innovation Wood already delivers for that last 5% is an incremental $140K. Not to mention if you pay up for that last 5% your next limiting factor will be the Aesthetix Rhea Signature phono which you would have to upgrade and so on. It will snowball into an incremental $150-$175K for maybe 5%-10% improvement in the sound. The law of deminishing returns at this level becomes steep. Also, to justify $150K, for me personally, I would want to have an LP library in the thousands, and have the tt be my primary source of music. Again this is my logic as it applies to how I would think about it. You may think about it differently.

I think either of the Burmester gear (089 CD/DAC or the 088 preamp) while expensive will give you a sufficiently different sonic signature (a different flavor if you will) from your core MacIntosh gear that the price of admission for that different flavor can be more easily justified. Just my 2 cents.

[Robert_Anderson]

The turntable - it is timeless and will never be able to improved upon over time as quickly as the lovely Burmester gear.

[chessman]

Originally Posted by cmalak

Ivan...I would go with the 089 or the 088 over the Statement turntable. My logic is as follows: first of all your Clearaudio Innovation Wood tt is phenomenal and you get amazing sound as it is from that table with the Universal tonearm and the top of the line Clearaudio carts you have fitted on there. The price of admission for the sonic benefits beyond what the Innovation Wood already delivers for that last 5% is an incremental $140K. Not to mention if you pay up for that last 5% your next limiting factor will be the Aesthetix Rhea Signature phono which you would have to upgrade and so on. It will snowball into an incremental $150-$175K for maybe 5%-10% improvement in the sound. The law of deminishing returns at this level becomes steep. Also, to justify $150K, for me personally, I would want to have an LP library in the thousands, and have the tt be my primary source of music. Again this is my logic as it applies to how I would think about it. You may think about it differently.

I think either of the Burmester gear (089 CD/DAC or the 088 preamp) while expensive will give you a sufficiently different sonic signature (a different flavor if you will) from your core MacIntosh gear that the price of admission for that different flavor can be more easily justified. Just my 2 cents.

Ivan, I think Cyril's logic is spot on. For your listening habits and the CD/Vinyl ratio of media that you have, the Burmester gear is the best fit for you.

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

I have been looking at the Statement for sometime now.

I think the "Statement" above kind of answers your question