Reference 3A Decapo "i" sounds shrilly

Harkey - this is an easy problem to fix as your components are all well known and very good quality. I'm not sure which Siltech i/c you have, but unless it is a model with significant gold content, go with a copper interconnect with the Cary 306 and you will get rid of the HF shrillness - something like XLO Signature 2's should do the job quite nicely, but you could even go cheap with something like Kimber Heros and do well. You might want to look into something like a Furutech E-TP80 for your power as well, which will also give you some relief from HF listener fatigue. It's NOT your equipment... John

The problem is the speaker/room interaction, as is 95% of all problems that people experience with audio.

Do you have acoustic treatment on your front and rear walls?

Have you treated the reflection points on the side walls?

Have you experimented with speaker positioning, making sure to have ample space from all walls?

If the answer to all of these questions is *yes,* than you have purchased a pair of shrill-sounding speakers. (I have nothing to contribute here, as I haven't heard them)

I agree with Goatwuss, it is almost certainly a speaker/room problem. A friend has the same speakers and amp as you and it is a superb combination - absolutely no brightness. What is your room like, how far are the speakers from the various room boundaries (walls) and where do you sit realitive to the speakers and back wall?

A somewhat forward, perhaps "shouty" midrange is a common criticism of the the decapo i, which I used to own. You should be able to tame it with various approaches mentioned here. One other to try would be speaker height. How high are your stands? Try putting some books or something under them and see what that does. Lowering them is more difficult to do, obviously, butg might be worth making some effort. And toe-in of course.

Maybe they need more power or current than your amp can deliver.