Rega Saturn. Is it really a giant killer?

Ryder - thanks for your comments. I would agree that the Maggies might be underpowered except that my CAL Icon MK II cd player that is probably 15 years old doesn't have any problem providing the dynamic and involving sound I like. But it is slowly dying, and I'll eventually need to replace it.

I seem to have plenty of amplifier power as I can play the Maggies at very realistic volumes and not hear any audible distortion and get plenty of punch and dynamics, and that's with the preamp volume control only set at 11 o'clock.

One thing I just noticed listening to Al Dimeola's "Land of the Midnight Sun" just now is that his electric guitar has a "fatter" sound with my CAL than with the Saturn. The other thing is that while the bass guitar line with the Saturn has a somewhat light sounding "thud, thud", with my CAL the bass line is a more solid "THUD THUD".

I would guess that my system is not the best setup for the Saturn to shine for some reason. Maybe the Saturn is allergic to Magneplanars? :)

Hi Timoteo. Good response.

The Saturn is my first CDP and I really feel the mids and vocals are outstanding with this player.

I guess I could see where someone might consider the Saturn on the polite side.

I would love to try another player to pin it against the Saturn just to form another opinion one way or the other.

I will not go there until I add a dedicated stereo pre-amp to my combined HT/Stereo rig. This is next on the list.

Currently I am running the Saturn into a NAD Masters pre/pro and I really want to correct this.

There are times when I am blown away and there are other times I would like a little more sparkle. Guess it depends on the recording.

Playing Lyle Lovett "Road to Ensenada" as I type and that track brings me to my knees with my set-up.

I know there is the great debate but I also swapped the stock cord out and now use Synergistic Research Tesla.

I also keep the player powered up unless I am going out of town.

I seem to be pretty happy with the Saturn but now that my system is evolving and especially after I add a stereo pre I would like to borrow a Simaudio to try out and compare.

I also admit that I use a REL B1 sub with stereo and my speakers are Dynaudio Confidence C1 monitors.

Seems to be a good match but I got an itch to try another player to compare..

Thanks for your input and at times I can understand your comments and other times I am thrilled...

One problem I ran into with the home-trial Saturn I had over a weekend was that it seemed to demand pristine disks.

Some of my CDs have a few scratches on them, but generally nothing serious. The Saturn got very upset over a couple of my CDs. I took them out, looked them over, and really couldn't find anything obviously wrong with them. I listened to a lot of different brands of players at the local audio store and this is the first one that got upset with some of the CDs I like to use for testing players.

One CD started skipping a bit - barely noticeable at first - kind of like a skipped heartbeat - but then it started getting stuck and skipping in some places, and in one place it decided it had had enough and simply froze - it stopped advancing the time and muted itself. I had to skip to the next track. I put the same CD in my own player and it played fine. I had this same problem with an Apollo they had at the store too. I'm pretty sure they both use the same transport, so that shouldn't be too surprising.

If you get to home-trial the Saturn, play a lot of CDs to make sure it tracks them well before you plop down $2500.

Timoteo, do you know if the Saturn you took home for trial is current production? I'm asking, as I wonder if Rega has fixed the programming "glitches"

I borrowed the player only a few months ago, so it should be fairly current.