My first serious purchase was a CB Nait 2, which was stolen about 6 months after I bought it with my summer holiday earnings as a student. Back in the day, I replaced it with a NAD 3020B (which I still have and it was recapped a couple of years ago).
After enjoying a NAC282/HCDR/NAP250.2 for a while I started looking for a CB Nait 2 as a possible second system last year. I found one that had been serviced by Darran and I love it. Unfortunately, so does my niece and it is now on permanent loan to her with a pair of Harbeth P3ESR speakers.
To scratch the itch, I found a recently serviced NAC42 (I bought it on that big auction site from a forum member who was unknown to me at the time) and a NAP110, both of which sound superb with an RP6 and Bluesound Node 2 feeding Spendor 3/5e speakers with the help of a BF sub. Six months later, a recently serviced CB HiCap and a NAP140 have joined the NAC42, which is now feeding Spendor 2/3e speakers. The NAP110 is parked and waiting to be hooked up to an as yet unused NAC32 when I find the time.
By this time next year, I will almost certainly have a CB250.
The only reason I will start using the 282 again on a regular basis is because I have a Supercap DR waiting to be unpacked, the 250.2 has been replaced by a 250DR and I have a pair of Spendor 1/2R speakers in my “listening room” (aka study/den).
I find the CB kit quite addictive and, to be honest, it is all I really need. But who stops there? For the cost of a service by Darran, CB is unbeatable value for money. The other advantage is that like the newer black boxes, my better half cannot tell the difference between one box and the next. As long as the number of boxes apparently remains the same in more or less the same positions on the racks, she neither notices nor complains that I have bought anything new. The convenient shoebox size also makes it very easy to swap them in and out without her noticing.
David
