Warm vs Revealing—the struggle for balance

Before determining speakers are too warm, too bright, too something...toe in, toe out. 

OP,

‘Thank you for your response. 
 

On the subject of the sound of music. I grew up with cheap systems of the 70’s and live concerts… The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Moody Blues…etc. in really good venues and towers of amplifiers and speakers. I actually thought cymbals sounded like tsssshhhhh, and that correct treble was mostly (now that I know) high frequency hash and distortion. As my systems got better the high frequency got quieter and quieter and from amid the tssssss emerged the sound of touch of a drums stick hitting brass and it resonating resonating. 
 

Well, if you have got Amati’s… then great place to start. No need to go for different speakers.

@jji666 glad you mentioned toe in as this can be a great way to manage overly strident treble. This has definitely been a tool I have used to manage my system’s treble.
 

I’d add managing a big window behind my listening position has been important. I’m working with a studio design engineer and he showed me the treble spike the uncovered windows was creating. When we covered the windows with a pile of pillows the spike disappeared and the SQ was much more measured—working on getting some window treatments that are acceptable to the family. The room definitely is a part of the equation as we tweak our systems to our liking. Lots of hard surfaces are going to increase fatigue but a well treated room presumably can handle more detailed speakers with causing harshness.

The balance IMO has to do with the parts in the components you are using.  They are usually lower grade resistors and capacitors.  PLUS the AC filtering is usually non existent.  You can filter AC noise with filter chokes and that usually provides more clarity and reduces noise that impacts harshness.  Then upgrading capacitors in the power supply also adds to that benefit.  Cleaning up the noise usually provides more clarity and detail without the harshness.  Capacitors like V-Caps usually provide greater separation of instruments and vocals in my experience so you get better images and better soundstage.  These improvements are a much cheaper way to go that cable changes, room treatments, etc.  PLUS they are consistent with system changes.

Happy Listening. 

Audio Equipment is designed to transfer embedded recorded data to the point it becomes sound, a sonic entity within a space.

The equipment is specifically designed to enable a perfectly functioning Human Audible Range of 20H to 20Khz to receive Soundwaves at these frequencies.

Sound produced within a Audio System is a Transferal of Electrical Energy into a Soundwave. Not all electrical energy is transferred through a circuit designed for Audio equally, this will result in a variety of description about a audio device in relation to how it interfaces with different partnering devices within a system.

The Soundwave is produced as a result of a Mechanical Operation produced by the function of the Drivers belonging to the Speaker.

The Soundwave is functioning within a Specific Environment that is very different from the environment selected for the designing and testing of the Speaker Drivers.

There is without doubt Electrical Energy that when processed to the point it passes through the Xover can have a trait that when becoming Sound, is a Trait that has a limited amount of attraction.

There are Speakers that when converting the Electrical Signal to sound can quite easily produce sound that has a limited amount of attraction, the enclosures used for the Speakers can also add to other Traits that offer up something in relation to a audible sound that has a limited amount of attraction.

The Room in use to have sound produced in will also receive energy that will be transferred into something that is different from the Sound produced by the Speakers Driver. These additional sounds created by the Room are in many cases very audible and will have a limited amount of attraction.

The pursuit of the ideal sonic is unique to each individual, as equipment choices and listening environments are all usually bespoke.

The next bespoke choice for each individual and one that will be unique to each, is for how Transparent through to Rich they like the sonic to have a detectable presence. For this one there is a vast amount of preferences, and for many they may never discover their ideal soulmate, during their expression of interest in audio.