How do I smooth out violins?

Bojack,

As you can see from the responses you are getting, opinions will vary greatly. That's to be expected since all we can do provide your with out best guesses. The only component I've owned that you have are is amp. I don't think your amp is the problem, although the high frequencies can tend to a little on the bright side. I agree with you on looking at your preamp first. Theres no guarantees, of course, but I believe its the most sensible thing to look at first. I think its a mistake to only consider a tube preamp, though. My primary focus would be on getting a good preamp; tube or solid state. Just because a preamp is solid state, doesn't mean it won't work for you.

When I first read the original post it sounded to me like a general, overall system, type of complaint. Not just a few, specific recordings.

I know I'll probably regret saying this, but the following post from Rok2id does make a lot of sense and is definitely something to consider.

"01-04-13: Rok2id
After reading your post and the responses, I listened to several CDs to see if I could hear anything similiar.

Beethoven Sym #9 1st movement
Bohm and the vienna Phil

Same piece but Karajan and the berliners SACD.

Julia Fischer Bach concertos with ASMF

The Fischer disc was a little fast, but the strings were easy on the ears. no complaints. Of course she was great.
The Bohm was GREAT. Very smooth. No irritation at all.
The Karajan sounded sort of harsh and strident.
Both of the Beethovens were recorded by DG.
The Bach by DECCA.

A lot of CDs are like this with big orchestras. I own a lot of them. Have not listened to them in years, once a I got a better performance and recording. Just a wall of sound that sort of grates on the ears.

I would advise you, as someone said, get a KNOWN well recorded violin heavy piece and listen. If you find it grating on your ears, then maybe you do have a gear peoblem. But remember, if your system will play at least ONE CD with mass violins to your satisfaction, then it will play ALL properly recorded CD the same way. If you modify your system to make BAD cds sound better, what will it make the GOOD cds sound like. Don't say, ' MO Better' :) Beethoven's 5&7 by Carlos Kleiber and the Vienna is considered one of the best classical recordings. Try it.
The Philadelphia Orch with Ormandy was know for it's violin section. But that was on LP. I can't believe I just said that. :) Good Luck."

Also, I really like Frogman's post overall. However, I'm not completely sold on the problem being digital. It could be, but I still think the preamp is the best place to start.

Given how varied the responses are. I think the OP should consider contacting The Cable Company. They have a huge lending library of cables, accessories and components that they send out so you can do an in home demo. I've used them many times and find them to be a great resource.

I've said from the beginning in my first post that if the problem is equipment related that I would look first to the preamp. I stand by this recommendation. I think that its worth stating again, though, that you need to look for the RIGHT preamp, not a tube preamp. If the right preamp just happens to be tube based, that's the one I would get.

If you start with the intent to FIX a problem by throwing things like tubes, cables, AC products, etc.. into the equation, you will fail. Any time you don't use products as they were intended to be used, in context, you can't possibly expect them to do good in your system other than by luck or accident. Heres an example. A lot of people mention that you should switch from AQ to Cardas cables. Why? I have absolutely no idea. The right way to correct the problem you are having with regards to getting stringed instruments right has nothing to do with cables. In this case, cables can't fix the problem. If cables can't fix the problem, the only other thing you can try to do with them is cover the problem up. By installing Cardas cables in your system, you can hope that the cables will work in a selective fashion, targeting a frequency range that just happens to be a problem area in your system, and smooth the problem over for you; by design. Anyone who thinks something like that can work needs to give Cardas a call and run the idea by them. In all likelihood, they would tell you (while laughing), that would be a bad idea and that they design their cables to have a frequency response that is as flat as possible; just like everyone else does. I'm not saying here that cables don't sound different from each other; they do. The point I'm trying to make is that if you use cables to transfer the audio signal from component to component, you will probably be happy with them. If you get them for some other reason, you won't be happy.

Brownsfan,

I wasn't trying to single you out in any way. I didn't go back and reread every single comment, but I thought I saw several poster recommend Cardas; that's why I used it. Also, if you take another look at my post, you'll see that I didn't say that either cable was good or bad. I only meant to imply that using cables to fix this, or any other problem, is generally speaking, not a good way to fix things you don't like in a system. Once in a while, you may get lucky, but more often as not you won't really fix anything with cables.

As to me having the AQ4 in my system, it was a few years ago, but I have. I didn't think it was as bad as you say but overall I agree with you. I didn't like them either. That said, I still don't think its the source of the problem. I apologize for any confusion in my post.

This post is to hopefully clarify my other post where I mentioned Cardas and Audioquest cables. By some of the responses by other posters, I don't feel I did a very good job at getting my point across. Here's something I should have said: In my opinion, you need to get your system sounding good, BEFORE you buy cables. If you've done a good job buying components you like, matched them to each other properly and to the room, It should sound good, even if you have basic, entry level cables, connecting everything. The problems start to arise when you are not happy with your system and you buy cables to fix it.

I'm not at all saying that cables don't make a difference or that you shouldn't use them to tune your system to your liking. Absolutely. Buy whichever cables you like. Its your money and your system and there's nothing wrong with picking cables that sound good to you. It would be foolish not to.

I hope I was able to clarify my comments. Sorry if I confused anyone.