difficulty finding CD player match for Magneplanar

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.

I second philjolet and doug by the way its not just watts but also the current drive of the amp. my krells are ksa 80's (80 WATTS) and the double all the way down to over 1000 watts at 1 OHM so yes they can drive maggies and apogees.

Timoteo - I don't believe there would be an argument about the dB levels at the corresponding power levels, but that only applies if you are sitting 1 Meter from the speakers. Since most people sit much further away than that, I imagine the dB drops off rather quickly in a given distance. Having owned MG 1.6's I can't imagine 60 Watts/Channel Solid State being nearly enough for 3.6's at a decent listening level. The solid state amps I used with my 1.6's were always 100+ watts/channel (McCormack DNA 0.5, Bryston 3B, Audio Research D-300) and that was adequate, but during dynamic passages I would have wanted even more power not less. I also listened to the 3.6's and I imagine they demand much more power than the 1.6's. I heard them with 125 Watts/Channel 8 Ohms (250 at 4 Ohms) and thought they sounded weak and anemic.

Worth adding that the old 3As are not as efficient as the 3.6s. . . but I fear the argument may be for naught. G.

Okay, guys, thanks for the advice about amps, but for now it is a moot point. The CD player is dying; it has to be the first item to be replaced. I can put in a 500w/ch. amp but if my CD player goes out, I can't listen to music.

I had sufficient bass and the undefinable feelings of "power", "drive", "fun" from my system.

I replaced my CD player with two different CD players and the feeling of "power", "drive", "fun" was gone.

Since I only replaced the CD player and nothing else, replacing the CD player must have been the cause of the change in the sound of my system.

ince I didn't change the amplifier, the amplifier is not the cause of the change in sound of my system unless there is some interaction between the CD player and the amp. Since CD players are designed to work with any pre-amp or integrated amp, this interaction seems very unlikely to me.

Analog circuitry differs from one CD player to the next. Seems to me that the analog circuitry in a CD player would be the cause of most of the "sound" of the player. There are only a relative few manufacturers of CD transports, but there are many analog circuit designs. The DAC chip could contribute to the sound too, I guess.

No one else in this thread has experienced a change for the worse in the sound of their system when they replaced their CD player with a newer and supposedly better player?

I have had seen recommendations for the Jolida CD player, which I have read very good things about, the Ayre, Muse (I don't know much about the Muse player). The Jolida I can probably swing, but the Ayre (unless used) is out of my price range.

I have a CD player I like a lot already, and has many good qualities, but it is dying. It does not have the clearness and detail as the Rega Saturn, but I like the bottom end with rock/jazz/fusion/etc. much better than the Saturn. The Arcam was so forward in the midrange it just about drove me out of the room and it wasn't "fun" to listen to.

I have a chance to listen to Naim CD5X and Primare CD21 and CD 31 players at a local audio store. I'm going to take my player into the store so I can compare on their system (they will have plenty of amplifier power). I can listen to my player and get sort of "tuned in" to their system, then switch my player out for the Naim or Primare and compare. If the Naim or Primare have comparable bass/drive/punch whatever it is to my player and I take one home and suddenly it sound weak, then maybe power is a problem too. I'm not convinced yet.