Just a quick update -- yes I still own the Rotel gear. I finally found the culprit which turned out to be the AudioQuest cables.
Earlier in the year, I replaced the AudioQuest cables (Bedrock, King Cobra, and NRG-4's) with Acoustic Zen Matrix Ref, Satori, and El Nino. As soon as I made the change, it made a dramatic difference to the sound of my system. The AZs brought natural tone, bass, and a sense of involvement which was never there before. No longer did everything sound bright and artificial. I don't know which brand is "correct" (i.e. accurate, neutral) and what is colored, but all I can say is that my ears love the sound of the AZ cables. There is a sense of playful tunefulness in everything, it just makes the Rotel gear sound more like music and not like 80s early-gen CD like the AudioQuest did.