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difficulty finding CD player match for Magneplanar

I have a California Audio Labs Mk II CD player (CAL) that has one channel going out. I might be able to get it repaired (if I'm lucky), but I wanted to listen to the latest CD players to see if I could find a replacement.

I home-trialed an Arcam FMJ-something at around $1000 U.S. Too bright, not enough bass, not enough "power" to drive rock and jazz/fusion.

I home-trialed the much-vaunted Rega Saturn. Not enough "power" or bass for rock/jazz fusion, upper midrange and highs OK, but lower midrange sounds like being in nosebleed section of concert hall (very distant and hard to understand).

I've got Magneplanar MG-IIIa speakers, original Adcom preamp and 60w/ch. amp.

It seems to quite troublesome to find a CD player for the Maggie's in my listening room that isn't too bright or too distant and has enough power/drive/authority and solid bass to really drive electronic music.

Neither player was really involving. They seemed to present information off the disk, but just didn't grab my interest. Pretty boring. Good detail, good this, interesting that, but in the end, not enjoyable.

Others have raved about Arcam players and about the Rega Saturn, but they haven't worked for me in my system.

Anyone had similar experiences with the Maggies and found any players that worked better with the Maggies?
timoteo
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,973 posts
 
"everyone recommends more power for my speakers."

In this case, "everyone" is right.

YOur problem is most likely that the speakers are not being driven to full potential. If you are really not happy with what you have, you need to address that first and then you will not find it so impossible to find a "matching" CD player.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Excellent point Timoteo. Your amp is obviously more than up to the task. . . time to start churning CD players. Please let us know when you discover one that has enough power for your maggies. Unfortunately we just have no experience in testing CD players for more power on big maggies. . . so we may not be able to offer much advice. You will be a true pioneer in this area. Please keep us all posted. G.
mst
163 posts
 
Caveat in order: I've never owned Maggies.

Without repeating thoughts on increasing the wattage of your amp., might I suggest a bit of a gimmick? See if you can demo a tubed cd player. From what I have heard, it might be interesting to see if your sound is "punchier" for lack of a better word.

Have heard mostly good things about the Unison (I lhave and love its amp). I'm sure a search might reveal others. Demo one over a weekend. If nothing else, it will sound different.
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,306 posts
 
Timoteo,

I have owned Plinius SA100 MKIII (100 wpc), Rogue 120M (120 wpc) and borrowed ML 383 (100 wpc) and they all got appreciably loud but sounded a bit sluggish. It was only when I got an Innersound ESL amp (400 wpc this special amp with a bigger than normal power supply had nearly 1,000 wpc into 4 OHMS) that is specifically designed for this type of speaker (current driven) that they really sounded alive and dynamic.

I agree with everything you say and thought the same things myself but learned I had not heard the Maggies at their best the expensive way!
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
It's not a matter of how much power, but what quality of power. Yes, you can drive the speakers with the Adcom, but it will be an entirely different experience with a more robust amp.

To the question: I used the CAL Alpha DAC a while back, and to my ear most all the new players have quite a bit more resolution, several of them would sound more "forward". If you are not accustomed to this, I'm guessing it will be unpleasant. I haven't taken the time to check on the specs, but if the CAL player has a digital out, you may have two channels available to run to a tube DAC. This might serve you very well. An econonmical one which I reviewed and has beautiful tonality is the Monarchy NM-24. There are many other decent DACs which might work. You could borrow one and see if the dig coax output of the player is intact. Might save you a lot of money.
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