Need advice choosing a complimentary CD Player

Rotarius makes excellent points. Rotel is not known for smoothness and refinement. A tube preamp would likely raise the quality of your setup. You could still get a modded Jolida player, of which I have and have enjoyed, and not go a whole lot of your $1500 budget.

In all respect, I must disagree with Foster_9. My Rotel RCD-1072 is a fabulous player and it does in fact reproduce smoothness and refinement particularly with smooth jazz, straight ahead jazz, etc. Check out the reviews on this player at audioreview.com. For less than half of your budget, you can have a fantastic player. But I would compare it with the Marantz SA8001 which I understand is superior to it.

Thank you for your responses. Purchased a Musical Fidelity A5CD

Could you tell us how you like it, how well does it do with rock and roll, smooth jazz, classic rock, and overall punch, slam, and bass ext? Also, what was the list price? Is this more of a polite CD player for say classical music or can it rock with the Marantz's, Rotels, etc?

My comment on Rotel was not regarding the 1072.