Help Finding my system bright...

One thing for sure, with any change you make in your setup you need to be patiient. I realize you're running out of time with a 30 day return policy. I find that a system and cables need plenty of time (days) to sit untouched, turned on 24/7 if possible, and frequently playing music in order to reveal what it will eventually become sonically. Waiting and patience is difficult but crucial as the sonics generally change slowly and gradually as everything settles in. In addition, I have always used integrateds and once had seperates. My research of other's experience tells me that in most cases a preamp helps rather than harms and lack of a preamp in more cases than not is not optimal.

In my experience, brightness is often alleviated by readjusting your speaker placement. Play around with your toe in, the distance between your speakers and your seating position relative to the speaker placement. Also, try tilting your speakers back in small degrees to see if that helps.

setup and room acoustics - 90%

everything else - 10%

(assuming nothing is broken or grossly incompatible)

get an earwax removal kit... go to the source.

Macd, what do you use for a digital source ?