i am preparing for upgrade my cd player, so one of my friend recommand me choose CEC TL51XR, i am just not sure whether the player is suitable for me or not, so i would like to hear your opinion, if you have a similar one or had a test experience with it. any of your advice will be highly appreciated!

my setup is as follows:

chario CYGNUS

vencent 238 amp



thanks a lot!

CEC make a very nice transport in the TL51X and has been a bit of a standard like the esoterics for quite a few years. The TL51XR as a CD player though I wouldn't go far. Far better to run the transport version with another brand name dac eg the benchmark, musical fidelity or others of your choice.

As a CD player theres probably better other choices out there.

thanks for your suggestion, but it may cost too much, should i think about other brand cd player? and how bad of the DAC?

I own a CEC TL51XR and after 200 hours, you cannot (for any money up to 3 to 4 grand) get a better sounding player.. ....extremely rich analogue sound....no screeching digital clanging.....however, I have posted on this site a complaint about it which describes a problem in playing back the programmed tracks....it plays them back incorrectly about 90 percent of the time....so, if you are not concerned about programming, this player is miles ahead soundwise than any comparable priced player. T. Summers

Second Thomas Summers.

I don't think there's a better player than the CEC TL-51XR for under $4000; and I've taken the Musical Fidelity A5 into consideration of this statement. In my opinion, the 51XR throws a larger stage and resolves more detail than the 51X+Benchmark DAC combination.

Questions: Any of you have a link to the manufacturer's site or any mail order dealers that sell this piece? TIA.

Questions: Any of you have a link to the manufacturer's site or any mail order dealers that sell this piece? TIA.

Try these guys: www.mutine.com (http://www.mutine.com)

bad link? couldn't get it come up.

bad link? couldn't get it come up.


The Mutine website has been under revision for a while now. They are back up but still not fully featured.

Try this link (http://www.mutine.com)

You can view pricing and find dealers for the TL51XR under the information tab.

I just picked up a CEC TL51XR off of Audiogon for a decent price. Looking forward to receiving it and giving it a thorough evaluation.

Received the TL51XR and have been running it in the past few days. No question it is the best player I've had in my system to date. Since I got it used it appears to be pretty much burned in.

I've had the Rega Apollo, ESound E5 (European and Signature editions), Onix CD-2, modded Original CD-A8T and Consonance CD 120 Linear in my setup so far over the past eight months. The C.E.C player has the best musical presentation of them all so far as I can actually fool myself into thinking I'm not listening to a CD with this model. Bass is very deep, tuneful and much more authoritative than on the Apollo (my pet peeve with this player), and the high frequencies are natural where many players go for that extra sparkle, which sounds artificial. The Consonance CD120 Linear, which I am keeping in my 2nd system, is a great player for the money and better than the Apollo IMHO, but the TL51XR just reveals textures and depth in the music that the others cannot seem to bring to the surface. Many players can throw a wide soundstage, but the depth of the soundstage with this player is spooky.

Although the TL51XR sounds very good through an unbalanced connection, it must be heard over its' balanced outputs to fully appreciate its' capabilities. I'm running it through a PS Audio GCC-100 control amp to Quad 21L speakers. Cables are also from PS Audio.

There are certainly better and more expensive players out there, but at the prices they command I feel this player is a terrific value for its' price. The look, build and performance it delivers certainly qualifies it as a high end source component.

Long story short, I think it's really good. :D

any CEC player you pick up will rock. I own a couple an have found them to be very good sounding players for the money.

Lets see, mcd205, ayre 5xe, 7xe, EAR, Rega Saturn. This I think is the most musical player of the bunch and in this price range. The midrange and clarity are really musical.

Mark