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

My supposition is that your new speakers are giving you a new level of clarity and resolution. Now you are hearing things in the chain from recording to sound waves not heard before. I too have a Sota Sapphire. Reference my system page. Try this experiment if you are so inclined: Get some pieces of rubber or dense foam rubber and wedge them between the wood chassis and sub-chassis thereby fixing the suspended sub-chassis in place. You can place the rubber or foam in the gap around the bottom of the turntable. Check that the platter remains level and you will need to readjust your speed. (Make sure the suspension is not bottomed or topped out.) What is happening here is that you are fixing the distance between the motor pulley and platter spindle. Now the speed of the platter will be more consistent. Isolation of the platter will not be quite as good now; but this is a temporary set-up. Play Bolero now and see what you think.

This kind of reminds me of when one of the UASF bands was on tour & I attended the concert. Twice I had the opportunity. The last time I was seated a bit farther away in an old refurbushed multilevel theater. Some of the HF I expected to be a bit brighter... but realized that SPL follows the inverse square law. Double the distance & SPL drops by 75%.

Looking at the charts in previous posts shows not much output over 700Hz. Not sure if that's entirely the case...

Allowing for the possibility that Elegal is particularly sensitive to and keyed into the sound of the snare, I fail to see how changing the interconnect cable so that the sound he is hearing from the snare ("terrible/muffled") can be transformed to acceptable without creating a slew of problems for the sound of other instruments; IOW, other instruments sounding in the frequency range of the snare which sounded acceptable previously would then be too bright and forward. Power cords and vibration control would clearly be a help across the board; but still....... That is the problem with focusing on the sound of one instrument (or one type of music for that matter) when choosing equipment or tweaking a system, and leads to the typical audiophile chase which "solves" one problem and creates others. Until the OP reports back on how other recordings of Bolero sounded on his system, my money is still on unrealistic expectations for the sound of an ORCHESTRAL snare as the problem.

Interesting thread! Lots of good info here guys.

My bet is also on the recording. Should be easy though, just throw something else on with cymbals...

The recording is fine. Snare drum is clear and distinct, neither overdone nor recessed