How to warm up cold-sounding Rotel/B&W system?

I know exactly what you are talking about and some. Five years ago, I had a Rotel 980BX amp and RC-995 preamp driving B&W 602 S3 speakers.

Obviously a big step down, speakerwise, from yours. But, I ended up getting rid of the whole setup because of the extremely aggressive high frequencies. My ears simply could not take it. I tend to be sensitive to HF's and prefer soft dome tweeters to metal anyway.

I tried a lot of different things to smooth things out, but nothing ever made it to the tolerable level. Rotel+B&W = cold&hard, to me.

How many hours play-time do you have on the system?

But, keep in mind, I am the low-power SET tube amp + high-efficiency single-driver system kind of guy. Many perceive what I like as soft and mushy with no balls.

Different strokes for different folks.

I'm not familiar w/ your equipment from personally use, but it seems to me the logical choice is to either change the spks. or change the amp. An amplifier can have a huge difference in the way a spk. can sound. More refined w/better bass and an equally proportioned bass/mid/treble are some of the things a really good amp can do for your system. It sounds to me your amp isn't capable of bringing out the best that the spks. have to offer.

Stuart, although the RA-1062 is an excellent amp, it is a bit underpowered for the 703s. The amp will play the speakers, but will not properly drive them above moderate volumes in medium to large rooms. The 703s may seem efficient on paper, but appreciate good clean power. A Creek 5350SE is about as low powered of an integrated amp as I would go with these speakers. Compared to your P5s, the 703s are far more neutral with a more refined tweeter. If you keep your current electronics, try a pair of Van Den Hul D102MKIII cables between the amp and cd player and VDH Teetrack biwire cable for the speakers. Just my two cents.

I suggest leaving your CD player going all day at low volumes. Just set the "repeat" function and head off to work. At least a hundred hours to break in that tweeter and woofer. Or maybe more.

I recommend Harmonic Technology Truthlinks as your interconnect.

If your previous equipment sounded fine in the same room then, it's unlikely thats your problem. But... Toeing in the speakers can help.

Ultimately Tvad is right. B & W's arent characterized as warm. They are a revealing speaker and generally appeal to those who like that sort of thing.

Thanks for the ideas, guys. I agree that the speakers are just not getting enough juice to bring them alive and that treying a different amp is next. Yes, the Creek 5350SE is one I plan to try. Others have suggested McIntosh and Musical Fidelity.