I noticed brightness/harshness more than usual from my system a couple months back.

@oharek 

There are times,  mostly in the evening, when electric guitars and saxophones really start to hurt my ears, but that’s only at night. Are you having this problem all the time? How loud do you play your music?  There’s a few things it could be, but it wasn’t happening a week ago, I doubt it’s your equipment.

I am 70 now however this happened to me over 25 years ago, I had a bad cold and ear infection ever since I have suffered mild tinnitus, it is especially evident with 'ssss" , it made me very prone to hearing sibilance. Try listening to instrumental music, if that is not brighter then this could be the cause.  Simple hearing tests will not determine this as no loss of the ability to hear each frequency has occurred.  In my job, working with explosives, I had hearing tests very regularly, the results never changed.

Thanks everyone for all the great information and advice. I will try and respond to some here.

I have unplugged and cleaned all connections. This would eliminate a loose connection somewhere. I have had a loose connection problem before. If I remember correct it was at the cartridge wire connections. This and all other connections is first things I checked.

I did change phono mc dip switch settings. It didn't eliminate what I'm hearing but definitely changed the sound. Not to my liking. 

The room is very small and changing position of speakers is very limited. It's a small bedroom. I have moved the speakers away from and closer to the rear wall. Toed in. Straight out. Best sound for me in this room is 12 inches from the wall straight out. I figured this out way back when I first got them. Wish I could spread them out more but no room.

The stylus is not worn out. Only about 350 hours on it. That was my first thought. It is still under warranty and I sent it to be checked out. It is ok. 

I am leaning towards it not being an equipment malfunction problem. Maybe bright equipment issue but nothing broke. Maybe record pressing issues I never noticed before until now. There are 2 things I have decided to try for now. Have my hearing checked. Get 2 AQ power cords. One for the integrated, one for the cd. Music Direct has the suggested ones on sale 1/2 off. $200 bucks isn't going to break me and they can't hurt, right?

boxcarman - I can relate. I played some records yesterday and all was well.

couriousjim - I listen mostly in the evening. 5pm and on.

On the lighter side...

I have no neighbors close enough for them washing clothes to be a problem.

Is "audiophilia nervosa" a thing? I'm starting to believe it.

Different systems, depending on their emphasis can be really forgiving, or not. This is about the components and interconnects.

iI I were to buy some different interconnects with the hope of fixing the problem you have it would be Cardas. I own some high quality AudioQuest power cords and have tried some interconnects. They are not designed to be forgiving. Cardas are. I encourage you to read about Cardas… their ,owes level are designed to be the most forgiving, and less so as one goes up their product lines.

I highly recommend trying Cardas before AudioQuest. They are much more likely to improve your sound.

I had the same problem a few months ago. It was the ac wall voltage. It was so high one of my amps would shut down. Check your wall voltage with a multimeter. I now have a 20amp variac that allows dialing in the voltage wanted. Going from over 125v to about 110 made an amazing change in sound quality. Less strident and more relaxed. The brightness is gone. 

Thanks and good luck,

aldnorab