Broke and still not happy

I did not see any mention of power conditioning. Until you clean that up you cannot accurately assess the other elements of the system. The harshness you mention could very well be from dirty power - I doubt that it is coming from the excellent equipment you have. Clean it up, and then you can address system synergy, acoustics, etc. - if you even feel the need to at that point.

Gellis1,

I cannot speak to the power conditioners that you have because I have not personally tried them. However, based upon what I read I was not overly impressed with them. What I can atest to is what I have experienced in my own system. After researching power conditioners for myself, I concluded that the Richard Gray units were the ones I wanted to try. That being the case, I purchased a single "used" RGPC 400 MKII from Audiocon and put it in my system - just to try it out. It removed a large amount of the grundge and increased the dynamics of the sound significantly. It turned a system that was sterile to me into one that was extremely enjoyable to listen to. As a result of that experience, I rewired my system power for 240VAC, and added a 240VAC to 120VAC transformer and an RGPC 1200 Custom. The results have been wonderful!

This is the route I chose for my system, and If given a choice I would do it again because I think it is fundamentally sound. If I feel the need for more conditioning in the future I will probably add a PS-300 for the front end components.

Just my opinion - good luck :o)

Scott