Wrong setup?

Great advice from everyone so far - that's all really good equipment, Julien, I agree that it's time to examine your precise speaker positioning relative to the room and your listening position, as well as the quality of the recording, and the acoustics of your room. All of the components you purchased are excellent - it's far too early to be thinking about different speakers. You have the makings of a fine audio system, you probably just need some fine tuning.

Thank you all for your great answers and advices. First of all I feel reassured that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the components (or their assembly), which was my first fear (because if this was the case, there was nothing I could do to fix it, no matter how hard I would have tried, or how many hours I would have spent). Second, it seems now clear that the next step for me is to look at the room and position of the components. I will try to get more info on this before starting to move things randomly (maybe through Jim Smith book). for your info, the room is 25 feed wide * 13.5 feet deep (and the speakers are positioned in the small dimension, ie. "looking at wall" which is ~13 feet from them). There are some carpets and sofas, but nothing crazy. However the one thing I guess that won't be solved through a better positioning is the sizzling noise on high piano notes. That's a real concern. Once you have noticed this, all your attention gets captured and it really deteriorates your experience and expectation of pure sound. If anyone has more ideas/hints about how to improve things, don't hesitate... Thanks again for your help! Julien

If after all your experiments in proper placement, you find you still have the higher frequency sizzle you speak about, then it may be time to consider to new speakers.

It could be the sound of the metal tweeter that Totem is using that is not as pleasing to your ears and you may find the smooth, more laid back sound of a soft dome (textile) tweeter more to your liking. I know I have always prefered soft domes over those made of metals. Also, I would do all possible to get a dealer to allow an in-home trial to see how different speakers will interact with your room. While I always encourage auditions, what you hear at the dealers show room will not tell the full story.

Good luck and I hope you find the sound you are looking for.

Not kidding.. wax in your ears resonating.

Since I know nothing about your actual set up I will assume that your seating position is centered between the speakers and about the same distance from them as they are apart. Assuming that, try toeing in the speakers so that the axis of the speakers cross well in front of your listening position. That usually helps reduce high frequencies as it removes much of the lst reflections off the side walls.