everything sounded great until the upgrade


In short: I loved the sound of my modest system, until I upgraded my amp. Now it  sounds pretty horrible. It went from a warm sweet embracing easy-to-listen sound to knives and forks trying to escape from a bathtub.

So...

1. I can just unplug this new amp (used) and sell it

Any other options? I could upgrade my speakers but I have no budget for that.

2. I could sell the speakers and use money to buy used ones that go with the amp. 

3. Lastly I could change the source, but was it the culprit - to begin with?

btw - the sound of the "new" amp is decent with my turntable, and terrible with my CD player.

(If I wrote brands and models it would throw the discussion into "A sucks, B is great")

grislybutter

I once demoed some speakers at someone's home and the CD player was unlistenable.  The highs were just as you described.  Does you CD player have a TOSLink out?  A warmer more analog sounding DAC would make the CDs sound more like the turntable. 

You went from a vintage receiver to a modern integrated that’s quite the sea change. I’d say give it some time maybe a week or two of constant play then throw the Marantz back in the system and see how it compares. You may find it sounds muddy and slow then again you may not. Good luck!

There has been an evolution, among the majority of brands, toward more and more “detailed” sound that means a leaner sound with less upper bass (that bass obscures higher frequency detail).  It seems to be what most buyers want.  If you are in the minority, you have to either look for vintage gear or the brands serving outliers.  I happen to like a warmer sound, which is why I favor low-powered tube gear from certain brands, such as Audio Note and Synthesis, and solid state from the likes of First Watt.

pretty profound advices, thank you all.

I just spent 2 hours playing LPs and I am a lot more appreciative of the sound now. I gotta do something about the CD player. - even the connection is weird, I have to wiggle the cable sometimes to avoid static 

You didnot say what amp, and more importantly how many hours on it.

for breakin