Bolero:why can't my system reproduce snare well?


For those of you who don't follow my posts religiously, I recently purchased a pair of Martin Logan SL3's. I love them; they especially excel with voices. However, last night, I was listening to Bolero, and the snare sounded terrible. It sounded muffled and faint. I adjusted the settings, and nothing helped. I am using a MC275 and c2300, so I assume the problem is with the speakers. Any suggestions, ideas? Thank you in advance.
elegal
It tells that you need larger power for your speakers. Ideally they'll sound great with 4...500Wpc.
Mapman
"Are you sure it is a good recording?"

CD or Vinyl? Use a recording known to be high SQ; try a modern-era studio jazz recording that produces a crisp snare and tight bass with good dynamic range. Or maybe you have a reference CD?
Which recording is it, and how familiar are you with this particular recording?

I have multiple copies of various orchestral works, many done with minimal miking. You get a realistic soundstage that way, but you're at the mercy of the venue's acoustics and the engineer's microphone placement when it comes to hearing certain details the way you expect them to be. One, for example, is the Overture to the Nutcracker Suite. In some recordings I can distinctly hear the triangle that accentuates the melody at times, and on other recordings it's so faint I wouldn't know it was there if I didn't specifically listen for it.

Do you have other recordings that you know to have well-recorded snare drum? For classical music, one pretty good example would be the crescendo toward the end of Debussy's Nocturne, "Fetes".

Here is an extended and detailed Stereophile review of the ML SL3's. Notice the amps the reviewer chose, which include Conrad-Johnson Premiers Eleven and Twelve plus a couple of Krells and a Plinius. Maybe you can gain a little insight from the review about characteristics of the SL3s, setup, placement, and best matching amplification. Toward the end of the review he gave the SL3s high marks for reproduction of orchestral percussion.
Ditto on the recording quality being suspect. Snares(and
drums in general) are difficult to record, regarding the
capture of their dynamic potential/impact. The vinyl version
of this album was recorded Direct-to-Disc and is now almost
impossible to obtain: (http://www.elusivedisc.com/THE-SHEFFIELD-LAB-DRUM-TRACK-DISC-DXD-CD/productinfo/LIMDX005/)
The drum tracks, on the ordinary CD, are still better than most
recordings. Especially, for seeing if your system will
reproduce the impact of a drum set. I haven't heard the DXD iteration.
To Lowrider and Rodman99999, I was listening to a vinyl recording. I will try several other recordings. These speakers sound good on base, but also seem to be lacking on cymbals as well. I am, as I write this, listening to "something else" by cannonball Adderley (with Miles), and the hi-hats sound faint and muted as well. Thank you all for the insightful comments.