Thanks for the input. I strongly suspected the CD player was not the issue. Both the speakers and Cary SLI-80 are new to the system.
I originally powered the speakers with a Parasound Halo SS amplifier and Sonic Frontiers SFL-1 Pre-amp, but the desire for change got the best of me, and I decided to try tubes for the second time in my 30+ years in this hobby. The speakers also require an amp with a higher output impedance than the typical SS amp, and the tube amplifier did fill in the bass region quite nicely.
I have an L-Pad installed on the XO, but dialing it down takes the life out of the speaker. Is there such a place that you can take a pair of speakers and have them measured, in an anechoic chamber for example, and determine a crossover designe from these measurements?
I have so much time, money and energy in the speakers now, that at this point, I just don't want to give up on them. I feel like I'm one last grasp away from audio nirvana, but it's slippery indeed! 8)