How do I warm up my system?

it's interesting. nobody has endorsed an equalizer. why ?

i have heard equalization used at ces to eliminate balances in frequency response.

selecting a slope starting at 3k and looking at each octave thereafter up to 24k, might ameliorate the situation.

it's not a panacea but it might be a palliative.

every component in a system including cable is definitely have some affect to the sound, your speaker is the major component that decide how your system will sound, beside speaker, pre amp is the component that have most influence on the sound. i see that you had a tube pre amp in your system ,even i havent heard that preamp, i would suggest that you try to change tube in your preamp to see how it work and it is the cheap and easy way to do, just my opinion, good luck and enjoy your music

One way is to do just that, keep your components on all the time, they will be much more musical as it takes upwards of an hour for many devices to truly "warm up" if they are shut off for a while.

Second area I would look at is your Sony CD...it could be tamed with some warm cables like Cardas Golden Cross, but why waste the money when players that sound much better than the Sony are now available for less than $1000?

Back in the day I owned equalizers by both MXR and Luxman. I remembered they made a difference but didn't as much as one bought better equipment. Zar

Have a few beers. That usually takes the edge off! Seriously, I had tube amps that sounded bright with two different speaker manufactures and it was my speaker cables. Actually, I think it really is a mismatch between your amp and speakers but you can fix this with cables. Start swapping.

I think this mismatch is due to a tough load from the speakers. I admit I have no experience with SP, but you should take a look at the impedence curve from any reviews if they exist. Average impedence is irrelevant; if the curve dips low, say 3 ohms at any frequency point (usually on the lower frequency side), tubes seem to sound hard/bright. I don't know why this is so, but matching tube amps to speakers is tough regardless of what the manufactuers say.

I have VTL 300 Deluxes tube amps which are supposed to me tough monsters but they are finicky with speakers. Real finicky and the first thing to go is not the bass as most would say, but a hard/bright sound. You think you have this hobby figured out and then......