What is wrong with my system?

Is this a newly assembled system?  How big is your room? How are your speakers placed?  

You have all exceptional equipment. But when I look over it all strikes me as on the detailed analytical side. Added together looks to spell sterile. Any one might be good… but together.


My experience with Mark Levinson is that it is highly detailed and very analytical. I can appreciate what it does, but to me it is not musical. This stickers out to me first.

The heart of a musical system is the preamp. If you get the sources musical and through the preamp musical with nice midrange and warm bass you can get a pretty musically engaging system. So I would concentrate on this.

I would swap out the Preamp for a tube one, Conrad Johnson would be great, Audio Research… VAC. Swap out the Mark Levinson CD player for an ARC CD player / DAC.
These things would push you way towards the musical side but keep the detail (increase the rhythm and pace significantly.

Over the last ten years I have moved step by step to the warmer less analytical side of audio, now having all tube gear and my systems are an order of magnitude more engaging and musical. It is really eas]y to focus on the obvious stuff the detail and loose the essence. You can see where I ended up by clicking on my used I’d…  my systems are shown there.

yep, he nailed it. Get a tube preamp; ARC LS-17 or highers, Quicksilver, or Aesthetix, BAT, VTL…..

Your cables are pretty neutral, and as said everything else leans to analytical etched leading edge.

re bass - how far out from back and side walls are the speakers…and your listening chair ? does bass improve if you move off the chair ?

Any room treatment?  Tube preamp + acoustic treatment might be the ticket.