Help with System Musicality

Tubes is as easy a short answer as any. 👏👏👏

I'd take a bet that if you got rid of the Edge amp and replace it with a tube amp or maybe even something from the Pass XA line much of the magic would return. Also, definitely consider going back to the PAD cables.

It seems from the description and lingering regret that the power amplifier change is a meaningful factor. I can't imagine the Edge amp sounds anything like an Airtight el34 amplifier. One variable but a significant one I believe. I think your missing that fine tube amplifier.

02-05-15: Jmcgrogan2
I am not familiar with your speakers though, do they have ribbon tweeters? Perhaps this may be causing problems too.

Good guess, John. Yes, they do, and it appears that the crossover point to the ribbons is at a relatively low 1900 Hz.

Communique1, the one suggestion I would offer is that before going to an EL34-based or other tube amp, first try to research whether others are using these particular speakers successfully with tube amps. I couldn't find an impedance curve for the CL2i or any other Volent speakers, but its specs (4 ohm nominal impedance, 88 db efficiency on a per watt (rather than 2.83 volt) basis, 180 watt power handling) are somewhat suggestive of the possibility that it may be designed to perform best with solid state amplification.

Also, I would suspect that its impedance rises significantly in the vicinity of the crossover point (1900 Hz). If so, the interaction of that impedance variation with the relatively high output impedance of a tube amp will result in greater emphasis of frequencies in that vicinity than would result from interaction with the negligibly small output impedance of most solid state amps. Increased emphasis of frequencies around 1900 Hz is likely to be perceived as increased brightness, which is not what you want.

I'm not saying that a tube amp wouldn't be helpful, or would be the wrong thing to do. I'm just suggesting caution.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

As I understand it, ribbon and/or folded ribbon tweeters also tend to be very directional and frequency response can vary widely with location. Worth taking note assuming to be true in this particular case.