i want a dull, caramel colored cd player any ideas

Rather than change the source, your target would be a FR that dips at 3kHz & falls over 10kHz, with no midbass coupling b/ween the spkrs (i.e. minimise "dynamics).
What you want can easily be achieved with some room padding (1st reflections for sure) and bad spkr positioning (this will help compromise dynamics). Also, you may try padding the spkrs' tweet. Use a +5W, 8-10ohm resistor across the tweets. Proceed carefully!

OTOH, why on earth would you do that??

Maybe you could try down grading your cables since everyone knows cables are the most important part of the system, and change the sound more than anything else!~

Mr Tennis -

Do Try a Jolida CD Player. I have one. It is a very warm sounding player. Even moreso if you put a mair of Mullards in it. I would also try a Rega cd player, as they have a quite warm "house sound," which is strange to me, because their turntables are very different.

However - given your taste, I wonder why you are not an analog guy? A VPI table with a Koetsu or even Grado cartridge sounds right up your alley.

Mrtennis - Can you let us know what players are in the running in your quest for dullness? Yes, this is an unsual request. Good Luck.

I do understand what are you talking about. since day one of CD, i was thinking of them as sharp as hell medium. during the years every generation of CD players have better sharpness, resolution, details and so on, which makes them up until now pretty unlistenable and harsh. when I read reviews which have spoken about 'clear sound' of a certain CD player I know it is a signal to avoid such thing. CD's are too much clear in nature, so i don't understand why people even today are chasing clearer and more detailed sound. return of tubes is a sign of something is gone wrong with that sound.

well, i can tell how slow, soft, warm, boring, and rolled off sound has Audio Analogue Primo CD. it is 18-bit machine and it will not offend you in any way.