Audio Research VT100 MK1 and LS15 HELP!!!


I recently bought this set VT100MK1 and preamp LS15 and while I was at this seller house he demonstrated the sound from his online Tidal on TV connect optical to the DAC Luxman DA - 06 then this go to the preamp LS15 and out into the VT100. This set up sounds amazing at his house. However, when I came home play CD from the Sony X1100ES Blu-ray player RCA output into the LS15 and out to the VT100 and it sound horrible - no bass at all in any type of music.  The sound sometime muffle and not clear and most importantly the bass missing tremendously. Im using a pair of KEF R900 Speakers. What is wrong here? can anyone help me correct the sounds? it is because I didn’t have the Luxman DA - 06 DAC? or it is because I don’t have those fancy hundred - thousands of dollars cable?  or the CD source is playin at 41khz /16 bit not high enough signal?  

This is my first system and I don’t know why I can’t get that high fidelity sound from the ARC equipments.  I'm waiting for the Audioengine B1 to arrive so I can stream Spotify into the LS15.   What is wrong with my set up?  Thank you in advance for helping me solve this.
kentrent
Aren't there those little U shaped shorting pins that go in the XLR jack if you use the RCA inputs?  Or was that only on the amp, I can't remember, been too long since I owned ARC gear
@lowrider57 i owned the gold phantom so i compared it to the arc and kef r900.  The gold phantom has a lot of bass streaming from my iphone.  Even when i connect the same sony to the Mac1500 amp it still has a lot better bass comparable to to the vt100.  Could it be something wrong with the vt100 and ls15?
So as i was doing all these troubleshooting the LS15 keeps shutting off randomly every few minutes.  This prob new since i got it yesterday.  What is this guys? Im beginning to worry... :((
Jumpers are used in the amp XLR inputs when you are using RCA cables. But you're using XLR between amp and preamp, correct?