How do I smooth out violins?

Gentlemen,
The OP says massed violins sound like crap on his system. Asks for suggestions as to how to correct the situation. Now THINK for a monment. How many VARIABLES are we confronted with here?

The CD was badly recorded
the CD was actually a transfer of a 1942 recording
The performance was subpar
It was not a top tier orchestra
he does not know what massed violins sound like
his expectations are too high for recorded music
his speakers are not up to the task

And Lord knows what else

SO, how can anyone ponder the OP's question and come up with BUY THIS, BUY THAT, UPGRADE THAT CHANGE THIS.
would it not make sense to do the easy and simple and the cheapest things FIRST.

The 349 dollar CD player owned by the OP and moi. Please google CD5004 STEREOPHILE. I will assume you gentlemen know how to 'READ' equipment reviews. Trust me, if they had found anything wrong or bad with a 350$ CD player, they would have shouted it to the roof-tops. Because it would support the firt law of high-end 'If it cost more, it's better'. The obligatory last paragraph comparison to the mega buck 'reference' player notwithstanding.

Cheers

"Trust me, if they had found anything wrong or bad with a 350$ CD player, they would have shouted it to the roof-tops."

Unless Marantz advertises in their magazine.

Bojack - I am a big classical fan and have experienced a very similar problem you describe. In fact, I posted a thread about it on AA. The problem manifested itself in both of my systems, one is a passive pre-Class D amp-Maggies rig, the other is an active pre-Class A/B-box speaker combo, so very different. The posters on AA ranged everywhere from "Maggies suck" (yeah right) to more involved discussion of the problems recording engineers face in recording orchestral strings.

I have a couple of comments:

1) My problem isn't heard with solo violin, which in fact sounds particularly good on my system. It's orchestral violins only.
2) I have improved the sound through shielded A.C cables and jitter control. I would investigate both of these routes. I would look into a reclocker for the Marantz (Empirical Audio and Audio Gd are the competitors in this space). This isn't a complete solution but it's ameliorative.
3) Following up on 2, my current working hypothesis is that the issue is one of dirty power and jitter.

So I think your observation is completely valid and I would approach the solution analytically.

01-05-13: Rok2id
I will assume you gentlemen know how to 'READ' equipment reviews.

I know how to read equipment reviews, as do most others here. It's like reading the funny pages in the newspaper. Why do you feel the need to have someone else tell you how something sounds? I realize that reviews are merely ads, I've read many in the last few decades....some are right, some are wrong, some are right AND wrong. So what's your point?

To make it easier for others who read these threads, here is a link to the precious Marantz CD5004 review.

I'm certainly not bashing Marantz, my modified Marantz SA-11S1 is still the best digital source that I have owned. That being said, it still can't reproduce massed strings like my turntable. It's not the CDP's fault, it's the limitations of the digital format. Many do get by buying tubes and cables to attempt to smooth this problem out though.

My, I see that there are quite a few variables here, and Jult52, my issue is also massed violins, so it's good to know that you improved their sound with jitter control. Ironically, I don't remember having this problem in an earlier system (different everything except Type 4s), where my CD source was CAL DX-1. I would have it to this day if it were not for my experience with 3 bad CAL players (DX1, DX2, and CL-5)...finally threw up my hands with them and hence got the Marantz.