How do I smooth out violins?

Looking what you have, I'm not surprised that violins sound edgy or bright. Some of your components are good quality (speakers and amplifier) but "oddly combined" like the McCormick amp and NAD preamp, while others more pedestrian like the 12 year old Marantz CD changer! With all do respect, violins and pianos will only sound natural when using higher quality source components. And to sound really good, the system should be carefully assembled through trial and error, selecting based on what you hear rather than what a reviewer says.

If you are serious about improving the sound, find a good audio dealer or two willing to loan you several pieces of equipment for home demo.... at the same time. Start with the source and amplification (pre & amp) first, leaving the speakers and cables as your "control". The Spendor "house sound" is definitely NOT bright and favors classical and acoustic instruments (I've owned two models), so keep the SP 1/2E. Integrated amplifiers have vastly improved in recent years, and are a good (preferred?) alternative to modest priced separate amp/pre-amplifer combinations from different companies. (It removes some of the uncertainty.)

On a personal note, last year I revamped my entire audio system after moving to a new house. It was a fair amount of work borrowing four high quality integrated amplifiers (Rega, Sim, Naim, etc) and speaker sets (Quad, Dynaudio, Totem, etc.). But the result is amazing... clearly the best, most natural sound system I've ever owned. And yes, the violins have body, warmth, and tone that sound very real. Same with piano and trumpets, too.

Second Rrog. When getting the sound right for my main 2 channel system, I focus on strings and vocals and had in the past -for a short time- the Spendor SP1A mated with a CJ PV12AL and MF2300A combo. Not sure how much different the SP1/2E sound but upgrading the pre to a (better) tube will certainly help. Power conditioning, fuses and better power cords comes next to make the ensemble sound more musical.

Second Rrog. When getting the sound right for my main 2 channel system, I focus on strings and vocals and had in the past -for a short time- the Spendor SP1 mated with a CJ PV12AL and MF2300A combo. Not sure how much different the SP1/2E sound but upgrading the pre to a (better) tube will certainly help. Power conditioning, fuses and better power cords comes next to make the ensemble sound more musical.

Bojack - I agree with your thoughts that the NAD pre-amp may be the cuplrit (it is only a guess). I have owned and enjoyed NAD gear, but to me it can be a bit harsh at times. It is worth a try to substitute a different pre-amp if you have the opportunity.

I can sympathize since I, too, have noticed that digital can be cruel to high strings. A good deal of this problem can be atributed to early digital recording techniques. I never buy a classical CD recorded earlier than the mid to late 1990's. Telarc has a long digital recording history. One can easily hear the improvement in string high sound from the mid '90's on.

Surprisingly, the addition of Bryston SST2 amplification into my system improved the sound of classical CD's greatly. James Tanner of Bryston informed me that this can be credited to new, improved transiters in the current models.

My recommendation is to buy some very recently recorded classical CD's and see if there is any improvement. The European labels (Audite, Praga, etc.)are producing some very good sounding classical music. You can sample some from the Berkshire Record Outlet at quite reasonable prices.

You might want to stay away from Sony. Too many great performances have lousy upper string sound on that label. Poor Hilary Hahn. I have heard her perform live three times. Her harsh Sony CD string sound is nothing like the beautiful tone of her live performances.

Lastly, SACD can produce a considerable improvement in high string sound over Red Book CD's. An audition might be an eye (ear?) opener.

I hope this offers some help. Good luck.