Waited for weeks and finally received my Rega Saturn (insisted to wait for Silver and it was backorder). After opening the box - a little disappointed ~ I thought Silver Saturn is pure silver in colour and should look cool and matching with my NAD M3. However, only the front plate is silver but the body is somewhat between gray and silver.
Looked at the back of the CD player ~ It was manufactured in Aug 2009 ~ happy
I played a system burn-in CD for about 6 hours and then play my first cd ~ a little disappointed since I cannot hear sigificant improvement to my Apollo.
But I have to be fair, since my Apollo has been run for 500+ hours and I have recently replace the fuse with a nice furutech. But at least for now Saturn did not offer the "details" I was expecting ~ will give some time.
Give it a few days to warm up, do not turn it off. Make sure the display is off when listening. Let it run in for 100 hrs before judging. If at that point you don't hear a difference...well I don't know what to say. The difference is significant to me, YMMV.
Leaving it on will keep it warmed up but to burn it in you'll need to play it. I don't play any burn in discs, I just play music like always...the rest will take care of itself.
The remote is the same for the Apollo and Saturn and are interchangeable.
Alan, as you play your CDs 7 X 24 you do not have to have the volume on, the amps and pre-amp could be off altogether for that matter. After about two weeks you will have a clear understanding of the differences between the Apollo and Saturn or else you will need to look at what else in your kit is the limiting factor IMO.
The Apollo is starting to get kinda wonky, plays random tracks and stops sfter some cuts, sometimes. The dealer says the best deals on a Saturn are gone, I will shop a little more.
How old is your Apollo, Nuck? Is the Rega promotion over?
My Saturn skips sometimes while playing (it doesn't happen often, maybe once per listening session), and choosing songs via the remote is kinda wonky. It'll go to some other song than the one I've chosen - again this doesn't happen a ton. I find that once it acts this way you can't get it to react to a command properly. I have to stop the disc entirely and then start again. Seems that others people online complain about the same sort of things. Still in warranty of course, I'm going to contact my dealer too.
I don't want to leave it, and have worse problems down the road when the warranty has expired. 'course, the Saturn still sounds phenomenal.
Most components with software need to be unplugged for a while if playing up - that's the first course of action. The second is taking it to your dealer. The third is seeing how it flies.
Have had absolutely no issues with the Saturn, nor with the previous Apollo SE and Apollo.
And the Saturn sounds like it has been touched by the angels.
My Apollo is older yet...it clicks when a cd starts up, other than that it has it's usual quirks, nothing new. Still sounds excellent and functions fine...knock on wood!
"starting to get kinda wonky, plays random tracks and stops sfter some cuts"
"My Saturn skips sometimes while playing (it doesn't happen often, maybe once per listening session), and choosing songs via the remote is kinda wonky."
"I remember now that it sometimes adviseable to UNPLUG the rega if it gets loopy. 2 hrs did the trick last time."
"...it clicks when a cd starts up, other than that it has it's usual quirks"
You seem to believe that the Rega's are unique. Just a few foibles from the previous half dozen cd players I've owned. The NAD's have a microprocessor that it's advised to unplug for several hrs from time to time. It once lost it's mind and had to be taken to the repair shop as it wouldn't operate, turned out to be microprocessor problem I mentioned. My Audio Refinement had distortion in a specific frequency range that made it difficult to listen to and I could go on and on. Kevin Corr couldn't listen to his Cambridge 640 because it made so much noise operating, my Rotel does the same on some discs. Geez Neil it's a mechanical device with a microprocessor it will have quirks...oh and wasn't it David that had the Mac that wouldn't work right...some reason you don't like the Rega's or just feel like chiming in from time to time.
Would I not have to worry about the processor stopping during initialization or if I too quickly change my mind about what I want the unit to do if I spend 2 1/2 to 4 times to money it cost me to buy the Saturn on a better CDP? By better I mean where it will sound more pleasing or analog than the Saturn does.
Not really. Most of the processing issues incurred with any processor if not user generated, like I referred to above by issuing counter intuitive directions to the unit in rapid succession, will be a result of the power coming out of the wall. Power anomalies are the bane of all processors and are not just related to CDPs.
Since I added my Audio Magic Stealth Matrix I have not had one issue with the Saturn. Probably the same thing could be true for M.R. since he added his Thor.
I bought mama a Magnavox cdpabout 12 years ago, for 49$. It never ever skipped or missed, never needed a battery for the remote and always played very quietly....all the while sounding like a 49$ Magnavox cdp.
Yeah, I think a 1000$ cdp should be bullitproof as well, but electronics kinda get in the way sometimes. Never have to reboot the pc? Never have to stop and start the car? Never have to power down the cell phone?
Control, alt, delete? Abort, retry, fail?
Unplug the SOB and put it in the corner for a spell. That'll teach em!
