Reference 3A Decapo "i" sounds shrilly

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.

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

Not likely, since they were designed around SETs. I sincerely doubt that is the problem.

BTW, I am pretty familiar with this speaker. It does have a foreward sounding midrange. That is just the way it sounds, good or bad. Maybe that's what he is hearing and is sensitive to it.

Oz