i want a dull, caramel colored cd player any ideas

You have to love them blankets. Sometime ago I recall a preamp shipped to me wrapped up in a dirty blanket, it arrived in perfect condition. I'm hoping on my next audio purchase to receive a set of king size sheets. Anyway it could be that sheets are the ticket as opposed to blankets for the desired sound as they may be slightly more neutral.

Mrtennis in all due respect it would of been far better to ask opinions on a warmer sounding CD player rather your intial choice of words. My first reaction to your thread was that this was either a troll or you were just being funny which in turn diminished your sincerity in my opinion. I can say one thing for sure, with all prejudice set aside, this has been a very entertaining thread & could be that some of us have misunderstood your true intentions.

phd, i thank you for your understanding.

at this point let me try to put things into context.

i have listened to many components which have been described as warm sounding , balanced, not irritating, etc.

i have been to 12 CES shows, numerous stereophile shows in NYC and i have been a member of an audio club for 20 years.

i admit that my preference is quite different than most "audiophiles".

i felt that in order to attain a sense of an organic full bodied sound, i would ask for suggestions for a "dull" presentation, figuring that if i found acd player with that attribute, i could live with it.

i also admit that i have not considered the sensibilities of other people and could have worded my request differently.

i suppose i came accross as provocative and challenging the way others like to listen to music.

so, i have been duly chastened and perhaps deserved some of the criticism.

i apologize to those whom i offended.

i have been speaking to scott nixon about modifying his tube dac to soften it a little, and hopefully that will come to pass.

i have the CAL Alpha and Delta and have been using NOS tubes. it's not a bad combination.

i found a line cord by DCCA audio which i like, which is on the warm side and hopefully with a little tweaking, can realize a sound that comes close to my Audionote CD2 with a GE 5751 black plate.

again, thanks for your understanding.

all of these postings have taught me a valuable lesson in life--don't be a bull in achina shop.

Mrtennis, aside from the entertainment value of this post, I'll bite and consider your statements as being sincere.

You are certainly entitled to the listening experience that you might enjoy most. I believe your quest has landed you in the right place. With that I propose you subscribe to the cliché "one man's junk...". Now utilizing your particular sound attributes as keywords in an Audigon discussions search I believe you will find an enormous wealth of gear bashing discussion that would certainly identify just what you might be looking for. There is one caveat however - there is always the chance that such discussions will lead you to that extremely dull sounding CDP and once you buy one based on these posters "in depth analysis", you may find that after listening for yourself it is actually very dynamic and detailed, perhaps even very musical with great soundstage and separation. Now that my friend would be very disappointing, wouldn't it?

I have the same tastes in frequency response but I am always afraid to voice it because of the obvious reactions.

I finally found the older Grado cartridges and was in heaven until the CD arrived. I have thrown thousands of dollars at my system trying to replicate that sound with CD with no success. I can listen to the newer cds from the last two or three years but not most of the 2000 older cds in my collection.

I actually gave in and put an equalizer in the tape monitor loop so when my ears hurt I hit the switch.
Not the same as the Grado but at least bearable.

Please let me know if you find an answer.
Thanks, Ed Lanway, DC

i'm considering a bat vk d5. i have a post requesting opinions about the sound of this cd player. the post may not appear for 4 to 8 hours.

i may have to make a decision tomorrow.

i would appreciate any ideas.