How do I smooth out violins?

Real 'live' violin sound is hard to hear listening to recordings, either massed or solo. To some degree you can simply charge this off to recording techniques, i.e. microphone placement. You usually are quite some distance from a violin when you hear it live, not so much with a recording where the mic is usually very near. Afar you do not get the highlighted upper mid range you often hear in recordings.

That said, many folks find tubed units can be helplful if for no reason other than tubes can have a more fluid sound. But violins can sound bright and etched using tubed units if you are not careful in tube selection, not a small chore in tuning you system. A 'warm' toned pre-amp will help, or if you go for an integrated, get one with an actual pre-amp with dedicated tubes, not just a passive pre and tubed power section which is very common, unfortunately.

Good luck. Oh, FWIW, I doubt that you will find the AAM3A a solution for your problem. Personally I'd get a tubed integrated as apposed to getting a tubed pre to match with a solid state amp. But thats just me. :-)

Bojack,

As you can see from the responses you are getting, opinions will vary greatly. That's to be expected since all we can do provide your with out best guesses. The only component I've owned that you have are is amp. I don't think your amp is the problem, although the high frequencies can tend to a little on the bright side. I agree with you on looking at your preamp first. Theres no guarantees, of course, but I believe its the most sensible thing to look at first. I think its a mistake to only consider a tube preamp, though. My primary focus would be on getting a good preamp; tube or solid state. Just because a preamp is solid state, doesn't mean it won't work for you.

Maybe it's the CD, the recording itself, not the player. You should not attribute every aspect of your sound to a component in your system. Nothing will correct a poorly recorded LP or CD.

I think you're going to have to play around with substitutions a bit. Do you have any friends with gear, who would be willing to bring it over? I'd focus on the preamp and source (CDP). What about your room. Is it overly "live"? I'm assuming that you hear this affect on multiple recordings, so it's not just the recording.