How do I smooth out violins?

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.

Need tubes somewhere. Try a cj or quicksilver preamp or something similiar first.

... Massed violins in their upper registers (1500-3500 Hz) OFTEN [emphasis added] jump out from the mix and sound a bit harsh, unlike what one hears live.

As I read it the information provided does not exclude the possibility that it may be a recording issue, as Rok2id suggested.

Have you found this to occur with orchestral recordings that you know to have been recorded with "purist" microphone techniques (e.g., 2 or 3 well placed mics), and that you can say with confidence have been well engineered in other respects? Or have all of the recordings on which you have perceived this problem been heavily multi-mic'd, with the forest of microphones that are typically used for orchestral recordings released by many of the major labels?

Regards,
-- Al