My system is bright? I need help. thanks

Scientist73, Glad playing with toe in helped a bit.

There was a recent thread "Acoustic Treatments - What, how much and where" - which you might find very interesting. Its lengthy with a lot of opinions (as always) however it does have some good information which you may use. It just came up on the site today with an additional post.

There have been a lot of opinions in this post about your equipment not being synergetic or suitible for your environment. Before you start to chase improved sound by changing cables, PC, etc, bear in mind that most such changes result in minor tonal changes compared to different components. Such changes are, with only a few exceptions, good as tweeks for a reasonably tuned system, they don't solve underlying problems if the components are not synergetic, which you might ultimately find to be the case (from what I've read about your components I think they might be less than an optimum combination FOR MY TASTES, for just the reason you complain. But only you can decide what you want to hear and decide what sounds best to you in your room!

Don't spend any of your hard earned money until you have optomized your speakers set up and room. Take your time! The closer you come to perfect the longer it will take you to focus on the differences - and I'm talking days, weeks, and untimately months. Also, read as much as you can about proper speaker set up and look up some of the various theories and sites that deal with set up. There is a LOT to learn about this subject.

If you think I can be of any more assistance, ask on-line or off (e-mail) I'll be glad to try.

Grant (TVAD)is mentioning my system above,He visited here in IL with 711,very nice guy, I do own the Andra 1,I already sold the BAT 500 SS, I still have the SonyModwright,If I were you scientist I will replace those nordost and AZ speaker cable, thats where you are getting the brightness,try this combination IC audioquest diamond, and Paul Speltz speaker cable, trust me in my system,I can listen hours after hours its very musical, and full sounding..
Grant I replace my BAT 500 with VIVA tube amplifier, speaker cable is Tara Lab master generation,this combination,gave my system musicality more than I deserve.Good Luck..you can email me if any more question...

I own the MF A5 cd player with the same 6112 output stage as found in your gear. IMO, the bright/fatiguing sound your experiencing is that of your MF gear. I would keep the KW cd player for now, but definitely would change to a different amplifier. Pick an amplifier that has a more relaxed and harmonically rich presentation. Two pieces of that MF gear linked together is what is killing your ears.

You don't mention power conditioning. I have allways recommended a Richard Gray which really does wonders.

Room Treatment, if your room is way to bright it may be underdamper get some Echo Buster or similar panels behind the speakers.

The Musical Fidelity equipment is way over rated. The CD player is good, the amplifier is partially to blame for your way too bright sound. I used to work at a major Musical Fidelity dealer and after the cheaper equipment I never warmed up to the expensive MF gear. I would go with a good tube preamplifier and use a seperate power amplifier with good base control. The Cary preamplifiers are very musical especially the SLP 05 the less expensive 98 model is very warm, the Nuforce 9Se are extremely warm I know they are controversial ie the Absolute Sound, but they are really exceptional. Also Plinius makes extremely musical solid state.

A good isolation base under the player will help.