Hihat Question

I rarely use my Schiit Loki but it's there when I need it, and one thing it does amazingly well is provide a "cymbal" boost with its 8khz pot. On some fave LPs from the 70s there can be some reticence in the high end and the Loki instantly fixes that issue. One beef I've had for years, especially with some fave jazz trios, is the drums are mixed at too low a level (I mix live shows, and for many jazzers it's somehow accepted to not mic live drums at all in cases where everything else is miked, even though recordings by that same group may have hotter drums), and the ridiculous drum mixing choices of recording producers and engineers who think it's "cute" or something to stick some parts of the kit to the far left or right for some sort of stereo feel...resulting in what appears to be a 37 foot wide kit played by a very long armed drummer, or "hey...let's get a guy at the far wall to play that cymbal." Sticking the drum kit in a proper spot in the soundstage always sounds better than otherwise...John Atkinson (I think) made some comment about how he puts a cymbal or some other part of the kit way outside the drum soundstage image because he can, but he shouldn't. Ever.

not hucking a broken stick, but I saw some interesting settings on the mid and tweeter level controls in the Vandersteen for sales of late.....
IF they sound right in the near field, then IT is the room, not front end components.
BTW, rush is unlistenable on my TREO CT here in the condo, the carbon tweeter is quite revealing....but I normally take exception to most Rush mixes..there are some where they discover the bass amp has a volume control...but not many...ha. Before ya whack me with the kick drum, I have like 12 Rush albums...perhaps you can recommend a reference analog there ?

sometimes stuff only sounds right on whatever monitor was sued in the mastering process, chasing that will lead to endless frustration..

and I can assure you, certain high end ultra purity speaker and amp designers I talk to are VERY aware of this issue...rumor has it the Vandersteen preamp will have..wait for it.....tone controls...., defeatable and inaudible when not needed, useful as others have pointed out, when we are fixing stuff, in the mix, shall we say...

So, where's @bdp24? 
I think the idea of very near field listening to ascertain what your room is doing is a good one. You might buy Jim Smith's book Get Better Sound, which has all kinds of ideas about set up that don't cost money. Positioning in the room is pretty critical.
For me (not a drummer, a keyboard player), much has to do with the source material. Those jazz recordings that often sound great are typically less cluttered and more simply recorded.
I think there's a temptation to 'buy more gear, wire, etc.' as a solution in the never ending quest. I'd start with the room, and positioning (not treatment as such, which you can get to later to the extent needed).