System Upgrade

Great!  Thanks for letting us know the good news.

Best regards,
-- Al

@mdmdwyer, Prokofiev’s "Romeo and Juliet" is of course a work having exceptionally wide dynamic range. And although I don’t have a recording of it on Decca, given that it is on that label I would suspect it has been well engineered, meaning without large amounts of dynamic compression. **If** the "flatness" occurs mainly on recordings like that one which have particularly wide dynamic ranges it would seem to suggest that lack of power may indeed be the root cause of the problem.

BTW, I have the Leinsdorf/LA Philharmonic recording of Prokofiev’s "Romeo and Juliet" that was done by Sheffield Lab, on their direct-to-disc LP and also on CD. Some time ago, out of curiosity, I examined the signal waveforms that are on the CD using a professional audio editing program, and determined that it has a dynamic range (the difference in volume between the loudest notes and the softest notes) of about 55 db, which is simply incredible.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

P.S. to my previous post:  Unless the manual or the manufacturer or dealer specifically indicates that it would be ok, I would not change the setting of the impedance switch on the rear of the amp while it is powered up.

Regards,
-- Al
 

Excellent comments by the others. I would add, though, that if you already haven't you should try all four settings of the impedance selector switch that is on the rear panel of your amp.

When I hear someone refer to lack of "presence" I envision an under-emphasis of significant parts of the mid-range. And assuming that the impedance curve of your speakers is the same as or similar to what is depicted in Stereophile's measurements of the Super HL5plus, the speaker's impedance in critical parts of the mid-range is vastly higher than in other parts of the spectrum, and is also vastly higher than its 6 ohm nominal impedance.  Which suggests, for example, that the 6 ohm setting of your amp may very well not be optimal even though it corresponds to the speaker's specified nominal impedance.

Good luck.  Regards,
-- Al