-=> Quoting James White to All <=-
 JW> I'm in need of a new amp and CD player and am looking for
 JW> opinions... 
 JW> So, I'm looking for an Amp and CD player in the $1500 price range
 JW> (each) and am looking for suggestions.
 JW> The Bryston 3B catches my eye as do some of the VTL amps...and
 JW> for CD I am considering the Linn.
        Hi James.  Personally, given your electrostatic speakers
(heck, even more so with my inefficient ribbons), in that general
price range, I'd go just a little bit higher and get a Sunfire
amplifier.  I've heard only a few complaints about early production
models and *many* high praises from users on rec.audio.high.end.
Furthermore, it's capable of handling difficult loads as if they're
nothing.  It runs cool and does a straight doubling of power down
below 1 ohm!  (300 into 8...even 2400 watts into 1 Ohm!)  I've got a
great article written by Bob Carver on how he did it from the Internet
if you're interested.  You just don't get this kind of performance for
this price range with conventional amps (more than $8000 typically)
        Meanwhile, for a CD player, I'd follow reccomendations Stewart
Pinkerton sent me (someone I really trust on rec.audio.high.end).  It
will also offset the price of the amp to more closely match your price
range since these players are under $1000.
        He reccomended these players in this descending order for
players under $1000.  His personal pick for best CD player is the Sony
XA7ES at around $2,400 street price and the  Meridian 508-20 at around
$2900.  These somewhat cheaper players aren't very far
off in absolute sound quality in his opinion.
--
Marantz CD-17
Sony XA3ES
Denon DCD-1015
Sony CDP-XE900E
Marantz CD-67
--
        I don't know the exact individual prices of these players.
But it's a good place to start.
        Hope this helps.
 * AmyBW v2.14 *
... "Kill!" shouted Ford...at his towel.
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