Ultraviolet: I am not sure I know what you mean when you say that most live music is 'etched' and 'bright'. I have to assume you are talking about the sound of PA systems, not live acoustic music, but even so, none of the PA's I've heard sound 'etched', as in overly emphasizing the leading edges of transients, or especially in overly pinpointing images. I've heard some PA's sound 'bright', as in too hot in certain ranges, but not confined only to the 'brightness' range. But they are just as likely to sound tubby or muddy and indistinct as a dominant flaw.
Live acoustic music, on the other hand - and as the only meaningful barometer of reproduction 'accuracy' - can never really be accused of sounding 'overly bright' or 'etched': it is what it is. The performance space acoustics or audience vantage point may introduce perceived response anomolies at the listening position (which generally attenuate, not accentuate, treble power), but whatever 'brightness' comes out of a horn's bell or off a violin's bow cannot be argued with.
I'm also at a loss to understand your assertion that tube amplified systems, including the ones you've set up, sound 'very inaccurate' as a rule. This will come as news to most audiophiles. Although I've never owned SS amps that would contend for state-of-the-art, my tube amps have impressed as being more realistic overall in their handling of many musical attributes. I've certainly heard SS amps that sound just as good or even better in many areas than the tubed amps I currently own, but I think competent designs from either camp can undoubtedly sound pretty close to real music, and are not 'very inaccurate' or even all that different in many respects.
I am a musician too, a guitarist, and one of the things that I think biases me toward tube amps - besides of course the well-known ability of tubed guitar amps to generate pleasing distortion characteristics - is that I've never played through a SS guitar amp that sounded as 'alive' as a decent tubed amp. Even the best ones I've tried all give somewhat of a 'dead' feel, in terms of the relationship between what you play and what you hear which combine to create the elusive quality of superior 'touch', when compared to the 'lively' feel of good tubes. This observation may or may not really have a direct bearing on the 'accuracy' of high-fi amplifier types - it just helps explain my personal interest with tube amplification in general. But I can tell you for sure that I never would pursue this route in my stereo system if the results sounded anything remotely resembling 'very inaccurate'.
Live acoustic music, on the other hand - and as the only meaningful barometer of reproduction 'accuracy' - can never really be accused of sounding 'overly bright' or 'etched': it is what it is. The performance space acoustics or audience vantage point may introduce perceived response anomolies at the listening position (which generally attenuate, not accentuate, treble power), but whatever 'brightness' comes out of a horn's bell or off a violin's bow cannot be argued with.
I'm also at a loss to understand your assertion that tube amplified systems, including the ones you've set up, sound 'very inaccurate' as a rule. This will come as news to most audiophiles. Although I've never owned SS amps that would contend for state-of-the-art, my tube amps have impressed as being more realistic overall in their handling of many musical attributes. I've certainly heard SS amps that sound just as good or even better in many areas than the tubed amps I currently own, but I think competent designs from either camp can undoubtedly sound pretty close to real music, and are not 'very inaccurate' or even all that different in many respects.
I am a musician too, a guitarist, and one of the things that I think biases me toward tube amps - besides of course the well-known ability of tubed guitar amps to generate pleasing distortion characteristics - is that I've never played through a SS guitar amp that sounded as 'alive' as a decent tubed amp. Even the best ones I've tried all give somewhat of a 'dead' feel, in terms of the relationship between what you play and what you hear which combine to create the elusive quality of superior 'touch', when compared to the 'lively' feel of good tubes. This observation may or may not really have a direct bearing on the 'accuracy' of high-fi amplifier types - it just helps explain my personal interest with tube amplification in general. But I can tell you for sure that I never would pursue this route in my stereo system if the results sounded anything remotely resembling 'very inaccurate'.