To whom it may concern,
I do not have a review but more so a question about the Cal Audio cl-15. I had reviewed the CL-15 and actually purchased one for $1500 at a dealer in my area. The model on the floor was proudly wearing an american flag and sticker on the back "made in America". This does carry some weight to ne as the sourcing for parts domestically is different than when a piece is manufactured abroad. When I got the piece home I noticed the packaging and supporting documents and tests or check off sheetes were suspiciously not American. There were no stickers or labeling on the unit itself as to country of manufacture or domestic content. Upon further inspection, on outside of the bottom of the box it was marked "engineered in America and manufactured in Thailand." I felt a bit concerned as to not being able to attest to the standards of quality of the import piece versus the domestic so I returned the item. The preson I spoke with at the shop was unaware of the change and I had mentioned a domestic piece was preferable to an import. We contacted Cal Audio Labs customer service and they said that nothing had changed with the player and all of the pieces weere assembled,packaged, and tested domestically. Given the packaging, documentation and labeling I find it hard to believe.
The most CAL could attribute to being domestic is the engineering. If they are in fact the same, CAL has been selling equipment in violation of domestic content laws or under fraudulent conitions. Do you know anything about this shift in manufacturing and what differences there are between the domestic and import? In the test reviews are they domestic or import pieces? I liked the domestic piece I reviewed and all I want is a good sounding cd player that is under the $2000 price to complement my Conrad Johnson CAV-50 integrated tube amp and B&W 803m series 2 speakers. Should I reconsider the CAL CL-15 or look to other manufacturers?
Thank you for your time, Thomas Christopher

WOW! I like reading these reviews. This is a $1700 cd player and I am hearing from some very serious audiophiles here! I love it.
Tested on the following equipment...

B&W 802N
CJ MF-2500
M.I.T. MH-750 Plus Series Three Bi-Wire + interconnects
Max 1000+ line conditioner
Sanus CF45 Audio Rack (spiked)
...and this cd player directly into the amp.

I am not good at giving real technical reviews so I will keep this short. I was rebuilding my entire system and had gone all the way up to the front end. I listened to this cd player at a local stereo store and was not all that impressed, AT FIRST. The more I thought about the fact that it sounded better than this $5,000 cd player and DAC combonation the more I thought I should give it a in home trial. So I did. I previously had a pioneer pd-65 and an adcom preamp so it was still hooked up to the above system. To make a long story short after listening to this cd player at my home I bought it and thought about buying the salesperson a nice present for recommending it! It changed my entire system. This cd player is all about just plain enjoying the music and is very easy to listen to for long periods of time. I think people may think it is bright because most high end cd players have a kind of liquid sound to them but guess what; live music doesn't sound "liquid". I am oh sooo glad cal decided to forgoet about all the little options and just make a good cd player for a good price. I would have bought this player if it only had a play button on it. I see no reason to pay a penny more for anything else out there and my budget was pretty much limitless for my front end. This is the cd player for me!!

CAL Audio CL-15
What a great and dynamic CD player. The best part is how it counds with may Spectron Musician Digital power amp. This unit is every bit as good as the best Wadia or Krell CD player.

Equipment: Spectron Musician 300 watt Digital amp
CAL Audio CL-15 digital
No pre-amp
Nordost Blue Heaven cables and interconnects
Monster Cable Power line filter HTS 2000
Speakers: AR9LS
Speakers: Martin Logins with Sub

Hunter

In response to Tom Christopher reviews

i'm disagree. i'm wondering that if you're listening to the sound or the label. don't get me wrong. if the sound is good or the same as made in usa then you shouldn't worry about where's coming from. 'caz i think CAL they have to finally test each pieces to be qualifly before handing to their customer. CAL made in thailand is because $pay's cheaper than made in usa. and don't you know most of the usa product they're all made in asia like nike, sony etc. so i think you should respect a humanbeing more. by the way some of the hi-fi that made in usa's not sound that great like in UK or Japan. anyway...so~

In response to Tom Christopher reviews

i'm disagree. i'm wondering that if you're listening to the sound or the label. don't get me wrong. if the sound is good or the same as made in usa then you shouldn't worry about where's coming from. 'caz i think CAL they have to finally test each pieces to be qualifly before handing to their customer. CAL made in thailand is because $pay's cheaper than made in usa. and don't you know most of the usa product they're all made in asia like nike, sony etc. so i think you should respect a humanbeing more. by the way some of the hi-fi that made in usa's not sound that great like in UK or Japan. anyway...so~

I love this CD player. It is bold and dynamic with excellent resolution. One of the best at its price.

I picked up a fully balanced CL-15 as a demo. I have it connected via Cardas Cross interconnects to a Sonic Frontiers Line 1 preamp. Other equipment includes a Bryston 4B-ST amp, Paradigm Studio 100 speakers, Adcom AC-555 AC line conditioner, Kimber 8TC wire and Cardas Cross interconnects (between amp and preamp).
I auditioned the CL-15 against the Classe CDP.5, Primare CDP (can't remember model number), Anthem CD-1, Rega Planet, Copeland CDP (non Teak transport model). The CL-15 is indeed a music player as other reviewers have comments. I found that the CL-15 was very detailed with smooth highs and tight base (although the Bryston and SF products help this). The sound stage is awesome with excellent depth and imaging. Although I have not tried this player direct to the amp, which I heard is a good option, I am not enticed by this idea as I find my beautiful SF Line 1 to add to the presence of the music and takes away the "digital" feel of listening to CDs. The CL-15 After auditioning at the store I found the CL-15 to be on par with the Copeland which was much more expensive as no demo was available.

I took the CL-15 home with the Classe CDP.5 as the Anthem, Primare and Rega players didn't excite me in the store anf also these two models were in my price range. In my system at home (which can be bright), it was not as harsh as the Classe CDP.5 which was almost unlistenable for any length of time (I agree with some reviews that suggest it sounds like mass market material). The Classe player even had ~300 hours of the required burn-in time as it was also a demo. I didn't like the fact that you could not turn the Classe player's display off or that the red HDCD indicator.

I find the CL-15 to be solidly built (except for the drawer), but I agree with some of the nit picky things other reviewers have said which includes a plastic remote, hard to read display at angles. But the neutral to slightly warm tonal quality of the CL-15, HDCD capability (I didn't buy the player based on this option, but is nonetheless outstanding), the fully balanced option (not at just the output stage) which allows me to pass a fully balanced signal to the amp (which I understand balances the signal at the output stage), all added up to a quick purchase great musical enjoyment. A final note, the player benefits slightly from the use of isolation feet (cones or air tubes) by tightening up the bass and opening up the mid range even more. The CAL tech reps suggest keeping the digital volume control at max if you use a preamp. This disengages this circutry and I did notice an improvement in sound (not volume related). Highly recommended product, but expensive in Canada at the current time. Fully balanced model retails for $2195 US or about $3300 CDN. without the 15% tax.

Build quality is very good. The sound is very natural (dare I say analog-like) with none of the harsh, edgy digital sound often found with inexpensive digital gear. The great sound has to do with the high quality Burr-Brown 20 bit Dacs. The HDCD option is incredible sounding. Most of the HDCD discs sound very holographic and have enormous information due to the true 20 bit resolution of the HDCD chip and it makes non-HDCD discs sound good as well! Digital volume control sounds pretty good but I prefer the sound of a quality preamp. However, if you cannot afford a quality preamp, the digital volume control will suffice and you will not feel "short-changed"!

The digital volume control has no indicator (display) as to volume level. No digital out for an outboard D/A - but I question the value of adding an outboard D/A to a quality CD player anyway.

A very well-built machine available at a real-world price. It offers high quality Dacs, HDCD, and digital volume control. The sound is very natural and on excellent recordings, will portray all the fine detail contained on the disc. However, if the disc is of poor quality, it will not mask it like other "euphonic" machines.

Similar Products Used:

Sony ES machines, Rega Planet, Micromega, EAD, Rotel

build quality (very quiet/smooth operation),great detail, very natural"you are there"sound, variable output for direct to amp operation, digital input (to turbo charge my adcom carosal player for my multi play moods.

the display is very hard to read,wish it has a second pair of fixed outputs.

I heard a lot of good things about the Arcam fmj23 and went to audition it with the intention of buying that day. The Arcam was a wonderful player and if I didn't go any further I would have bought it and been very happy but....starring me in the face was the linn ikemi. I asked if I could hear that (I've heard super things about this unit)also. I immediatly heard the difference/improvement over the Arcam.
This stopped me in my tracks regarding the Arcam purchase.
I guess I would say the Arcam is worth every penny of it's $2,200 price tag and the Linn of it's $3,500. In this pause to think moment I remembered someone telling me about the CAL line and how I should audition them before I made my purchase. Long story short after hearing the CAL CL-15 and recalling my Arcam/Linn experience I asked myself the question I ask no matter what eqp. I audition and that is "How real does this sound?" The CAL was bettered by the Linn
in the depth of the soundstage but aside from that the difference boiled down to this: The Linn did a great job at recreating the musical event while the CAL allowed me to stick my head into the room of the performance. Would I pay $3,500 for the Linn...Yes but If both units were the same price I would buy the CAL. The price of the CAL was just the frosting on the cake. I had a couple of questions that I called the Manufacturer about and they were super, especially Bob A. The CAL CL-15 put's you in the front row and it's price makes you feel like you snuk into the concert. (When I connected the CAL into my system it seemed as though the rest of my eqp. got an adrenaline boost).
Happy Hunting!

Associated Eqp.
Snell B-Minor
Bryston 7bST's
Audio Research LS3B
Audioquest Midnight 3 Spkr wire
Kimber- Hero (balanced) Pre to amp and KCAG CD to Pre
CAL CL-15

Similar Products Used:

arcam fmj23, linn ikemi,

An amazing thing. I auditioned the exact same units as BZ1 below. The arcam, linn, and cal. My results were similar but not exactly the same. The arcam was good but not as good as the cal or linn. Where I differ from the previous review is that the cal was not in the same league as the linn. Indeed better than the arcam and very good for the price. I liked it. The linn was an entirely different kettle of fish. Much much better than either the cal or arcam. That is what my ears told me. I didn't know the prices of these units as I was auditioning....so I was just listening without regard to price. Same amp, same speakers, etc., just changed out the cd players.