Arcam delta 70.2

My old schoolmate, who passed away on 03 January 2025, left a lot of personal stuff in his room. About two weeks ago, his sister called and said that if I wanted anything, I could come over and take whatever I liked.

This compact disc player—the Arcam Delta 70.2—was just lying around on the shelves, collecting dust but calling out my name. It was reputedly spoilt. But I didn’t know that for sure, and it looked like a good enough addition to my hi-fi system. After all, my original CD players had broken down years ago, and I hadn’t been able to find a suitably cheap but reliable replacement.

“Mind you, it’s spoilt,” his sister reminded me as I made my way down the stairs with the player in my arms. “Never mind,” I replied. “Let me see what I can do.”

Later, at home, I took a closer look. The problem soon became obvious—the centre pin from one of the male plugs had broken off inside the female socket. There was no way to remove it. Truly stuck. My old friend must have simply given up and stored the player away. For a moment, my heart sank. Junk it? That was my first thought. But knowing that the Delta was one of Arcam’s signature CD players, I wondered if there was another way to get it working.

I gave the back of the unit a second look. Hmm... there was a coaxial audio output. That could be the solution! But then, my old Technics integrated amplifier didn’t have any coaxial or optical input, only analogue ones. If I wanted to experiment with the coaxial output, I’d need to buy an optical/coaxial-to-analogue converter—plus a coaxial cable, of course.

I eventually settled on a decent converter and cable from UGreen. Together, they cost me less than RM100 and took about a week to arrive. When they did, impatient me wasted no time setting everything up. And it worked! The whole setup worked. And the music, so sweet and warm to my ears! Now, the CD player has become a permanent fixture in my hi-fi system, and I’m relistening to my compact discs with renewed relish through my Triangle speakers.