Luxurous Burmester
Burmester 069
Retail price approximately 35.000 euro
Burmester is one of those brands that many audiophiles dream of but few of them can afford. The brand also makes “affordable” equipment, but most speaking to the imagination are their top of the line Reference series of components. And if the reviews are anything to go by, the 069 and 089 CD players are not only eyecandy but true audiophile pieces. Alas I have never heard one.
The Reference 069 is Burmester’s most expensive CD player, and at about 35.000 euro quite prohibitive indeed. But I have a hunch that it will indeed sound very special. The 069 is a two-cabinet affair, with the elaborate power supply in a separate housing.
Above: 069 transport section
Above: 069 power supply section
The Reference 069 is indeed very costly. But having owned a CEC TL1x as well as countless Philips transport based players, still loving my current Levinson 37 transport (which also utilizes a CD Pro 2), I have a hunch that it will indeed sound very special. The 069 is a two-cabinet affair, with its elaborate power supply in a separate housing.
The Burmester 069 uses a modified Philips CD Pro2 (VAU1254/31LF) transport and for a change, the mod doesn’t only entail the loader mechanism, but a rather thorough and well implemented belt drive mechanism. The laser assembly is still stock (AFAIK) but where for the stock CD Pro the spindle shaft is one with the motor shaft, which itself is a very cheap affair, for the Burmester this is entirely replaced with a very heavy and tight tolerance shaft and bearing. This sturdy spindle assembly is then driven via a rubber belt (decoupling from vibrations) by a strong motor.
This transport is said to be based on the 916 which Burmester co-developed together with CEC. I’d take that with a grain of salt since CEC never used any Philips parts.
The 069-Project was one of cost-no-object. The mechanics are obviously a big part of this, the player and the external power supply both weighing in on 26 kilograms each.
I think the 069 is a piece of art and I would certainly like to own one. But the price is prohibitive, and another thing to look out for is the laser assembly, which doesn’t have the longevity of the older CDM1 and CDM4 transports, and with the CD Pro is no longer being available, this is becoming something of a gamble.
Burmester 089
Retail price approximately 16.000 euro
Top-Line, not Reference Line, and could be seen as a more “economical” version of the 069 with the same modified Philips transport, albeit for this model not in a separate chamber.
Same modified Philips CD Pro2 (VAU1254/31LF) transport as used in the 069. With belt-drive of course.
No separate chambers for the Burmester 089 but still employing first rate electronics. Whether or not the 089 is worth its still hefty price tag I cannot say as I haven’t heard one yet. I suspect that it will sound very good though.
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