difficulty finding CD player match for Magneplanar

I used to have an Icon player and the MG IIIa's also.

I replaced it with the Denon player I use now and I thought that an improvement.

The mhdt Constantine DAC I use with the Denon currently in my system is the best combo that I have had yet.

You need considerable power I believe to get the best out of those Maggies, I believe though.

I used a 360w/CH cARVER M4.0T WITH MY mAGGIE IIIa's (and Icon MkII). This was a pretty good combo that I lived with for over 15 years. That power did not go to waste with those Maggies at all.

For an inexpensive experiment that should offer an improvement, these or other high power Carver amps (some models which deliver higher current as well) can be had for not much used these days.

Next up the cost chart would be the high power Class Ds. Wyred4Sound offers a good, cost effective unit. BEl CAnto and then Rowland will cost more but perhaps offer even higher levels of refinement, if needed.

BTW, I am confident that once the power issue for the Maggies is resolved, most any well received modern CD player can outperform what you heard with the venerable Cal Ikon MkII.

" I wouldn't call them a rock/rhythm music oriented speaker."

A true statement in regards to low-end impact and dynamics if that is important to you, but they are still very versatile in all other regards and do very well with all kinds of music.

I'd still pick up a good affordable amp with enough muscle to make the Maggies sing first before doing anything else.

" If I were underpowered, why would it only show up with the Saturn or the Arcam CD players?"

The DACs in different players sound different.

You probably won't realize what your missing in regards to driving those speakers better with a better suited amp for better balance, impact, slam and all around low end authority, until you hear it.

Go to a dealer that might have Maggies set up optimally if you can and give a listen there to hear what you might hear.

You might find more CD players suitable with more juice driving those speakers.

A Cambridge Audio 640c or 840c is one player I have heard perform fantastically on larger Maggies properly driven and set up well.

"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.

There is another thread that I started going on talking about impedance matching issues between amp/pre-amp and how a poor match can affect bass levels...some good stuff to know there.

Same can be true between source and pre-amp. Maybe that is part of your problem, the Cal Audio matched impedance to the pre-amp well and other other CDs did not? Something worth checking into before replacing the CD.

Also there are buffer devices available that can insert between CD and pre-amp to address this potential problem.

Ok, so the question is then how to find a player that sounds like the old Cal Audio, other than trial and error?

TEchnically, impedance matching between source and pre-amp is the only thing I know of that matters, so if those specs look good, that is a first step, but stil not a guarantee. Individual CD players will still sound different from there, this just helps assure that the CD is a good match electronically to your pre-amp.

From there, it is mostly hearsay and trial and error, what you decide to try based on others comments, reviews, recommendations, etc. If you get lucky, you'll find something that sounds like what you had before.

I think the point is regarding the amp is that if you are in a good position to start with regarding the amp optimally driving the speakers, based primarily on amp power, current and efficiency at 8 and 4 ohms, then you will have a better chance of finding a player that sounds good rather than having to find a player that is not handicapped in your system and perhaps can make up for the shortcomings due to amplification.

The other fast track to the happy path would be to find another Cal Audio Icon MkII player used to replace what you had, but the challenge there might be to find one that is in good operating condition and stays that way. I had to fix mine twice at considerable cost before I finally decided to ditch it, so I would be cautious going this way as well if it were me.

Another thought I had is that perhaps if your current CD player finally died that perhaps it was not oeprating up to spec as well beforehand and that was part of the problem? That's just pure speculation on my part however though.

Good luck!