Cary 303 CD - Very Detailed - Fixes?

First, wait until you upgrade; that may solve the problem. If not, try some NOS tubes and if that doesn't work try some Cardas interconnects.

it sounds like you bought the cary w/o 1st auditioning it in your system. that's a shame, cuz (really) you need to start all over, using the cary as your reference point for everything else. frustrating, huh? learn by your mistakes and recognize that it takes years to get to a "perfect" system, which will then be outmoded or outclassed in no less than 30 days thereafter.

Hey Cornfed - You helping or gloating? It's hardly a "mistake" to improve one part or component of one's system, even if you then discover an undesireable characteristic needs further correction. This is bound to occur if an individual is serious about improving his/her system. It would be nice to have every upgrade available for audition, but even then, a significant improvement will likely show a shortcoming in another area. The goal is not that each upgrade will perfectly compliment all of the other components in the system regardless of their quality or faults. How can it be a mistake to learn what one truly values out of an audio system? No, the real mistake would be to never step out of the level that your system is at now by limiting yourself to components that can't show a deficiency in any other part of that system. Keep going Jcidulka, you now have a very good CD front end by which to direct and evaluate future upgrades. Enjoy.