Hi Simon:
It has been a few months since we have last spoken. To bring everyone up to date, Simon has a NAD 370 integrated; an Ah Tjoeb hybrid CD player; and the Speakers (forgot the brand name/not a familiar US brand, but I remember them as being very "AR Phantom like" stylish) were reviewed as being more suitable for HT use and during the demo the salesman made liberal use of the tone controls to tailor the sound. Since then, Simon has been in tweak mode in an effort to get complex orchestral passages at moderately high volumes to sound detailed, warm, and lush without having to do a major overhaul of his system.
With that said, the tube output stage of a cd player should contribute to a sound that is softer and smoother than that of a ss cd player. A tube preamplifier would be more effective to tame a system's harsh sound ... simply because of where the preamp sits in the sound chain ... though it is possible that the combination of a tube preamp/tube cd player might sound too soft, if you are more accustomed to ss sound.
This is a tough one, because I still think that your speakers are the cause of your dissatisfaction. Is it possible to get a tube preamp on loan from a dealer to try in your system? I believe that would be the safest way to tell.
Regards and be well,
Rich
