i want a dull, caramel colored cd player any ideas

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.

Get all PS Audio Prelude power cords and put 4 vibrapods under every component. These should dull the sound like nothing else. Get all Audioquest copper cables, their mid line, like Jaguar. Get Zu Cable Libtec speaker cables. Get RGPC power conditioners for your cd player and the pre-amp. All this combined should get you the results you're asking for. Bat player is a good machine, but last time I heard it, I do not recall that it sounded dull.