How do I smooth out violins?

If you are not satisfied with the sound you most likely need to change a component. A tube preamp is a good place to start. The question is what tube preamp will mate well with your system? The Quicksilver full function preamp has extremely low output impedance and will match with any amplifier. This also makes it less sensitive to cables. Trying to find recordings that sound good with your system doesn't make sense. It will shrink your CD collection to a hand full of recordings that you will listen to over and over. A power conditioner at this point would be nothing more than a band-aid.

Charles1dad, I disagree with almost everything in your recent post. Take another look at the system in question.

What if only one recording sounds good with a given system? Shoukd you only listen to one recording or do you want to enjoy your music collection?

If there is a need for a line conditioner I am all for it, but not everybody needs one. Also, if the system is not well assembled a power line conditioner is infact a band-aid. Once again take another look at the system in question. Does this look like a well matched system to you or do you see room for improvement?

Your approach of only listening to "Audiophile Approved" recordings and wasting money on a line conditioner is very bad advice.

The OP states listening to a ton of orchestral music. I find it hard to believe all of these recordings are bad.

Not everybody has bad power. If you are adding a power line conditioner to good power, what do you get? I am fortunate to live in an area with good power and every line conditioner I have tried only caused negative affects. Line conditioners and room treatment have become automatic responses to everyone with a problem. It is my experience that if your system does not sound right it's because it was not assembled properly.

The problem with a reference recording is it can sound completely different on every system it's played on. Does that make one system bad and another good? I don't think so. Every system I have assembled gets the most from a separate group of recordings. I think it takes many many recordings to analyze a system. It would be nice if we could use one recording, but it's not that simple.

Hi Al, Good point. I also noticed he is comparing his system to live music, so there is a chance it could be over processed recordings.

"Trust me, if they had found anything wrong or bad with a 350$ CD player, they would have shouted it to the roof-tops."

Unless Marantz advertises in their magazine.