How can I solve the harshness of my system's sound

I have to agree with Sean and any one else who pointed a finger at the Hafler pre. I strongly disagree with anyone suggesting cable changes to solve this problem. You could probably spend the rest of your life and thousands of dollars on different cables over the years to fix this, and if you change a component later, you might be buying cables again. I use cables to "fine tune", not FIX. The Hafler I tried in my system back in '82 was very nasal, and a poor soundstage. I didn't like it at all. Tom

My feelings exactly! That's what I was trying to say in my last post on this thread. Find equipent that sounds good even with the cheapest cables, and then fine tune with quality cables. When your cable to connect a component to another exceeds the cost of the component you are connecting, something is wrong. And we are all contributing to it. I mean seriously, a $20,000.00 pair of speaker cables???? I'm sorry, I'm getting a bit side tracked by Bob bundus' post, which I hope you don't take seriously. Putting a hemi in a Hundai isn't a great idea either. Tom

I'm sorry to ask, but do you replace nails in your tires with screws? Nothing personal... Tom

So Bob, if I understand you correctly, your advise based on personal experience and wisdom is; to make a poor sounding componet sound good, change interconnects and power cables? Interesting, I thought you were being sarcastic since most responses on this thread agree with my thinking. Sorry, I didn't understand you were serious. My crack on your tire fix was meant tongue in cheek, playing off what I thought was the sarcasim of your post. Tom