AU24e Interconnects - but warmer

In your case I tend to agree with Ebm. If I were you I'd try adding a rug with thick padding to see if that helps or change the speakers (by the way, are you listening with the grills on as Paradigm recommends?). But that's me.

If you're intent on keeping the Paradigms and toning them down I think the Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference could fit the bill very nicely and fall well within your price range. The original Matrix Reference was fuller/richer sounding with softer treble but still good detail, and the Matrix Reference II is still very colorful but with more detail in the treble range so a little brighter sounding but still not bright. They seem to have a good market here so you can try them and probably sell them fairly easily at little/no loss if they don't work out. Best of luck.

Cheers guys. I have been playing around with a few different sets of IC's that I borrowed from friends over the weekend and it has made such a difference! I was able to do some a/b comparisons which highlighted how bright the Audience AU24e's are in my system. But each room / system is unique as I tried them in other set-up (Quad & Kef's) where they sounded great and very neutral. From all the comps done, I can say with confidence that the AU24e's are NOT warm, they are on the brighter side (but I still wouldn't say they are "bright"). For fun and as a benchmarking exercise, I put in some silver Nordost Red Dawns and they were unbelievably bright in my system. They really favour the top end and are light on the bass. Great for a system that is too warm however, really added life to the Quad set-up.

Happily, some IC's that I listened to (Cardas, Purist Audio) added the right amount of warmth to my system and removed the harshness from female vocals. I'm confident I will find the right balance of detail / warmth with all the suggestions given.

For others out there considering changing speakers / equipment if you aren't quite happy with your sound, start with IC's, can't believe the difference they made in my case! Even if an interconnect is meant to be "neutral" or "warm", try something else and hopefully you find something that works. This may take me a few months, but its a fun exercise.

I know that my room is a big contributor (not much dampening, highly reflective) so warmer IC's are a must. I would love to treat the room but this isn't practical (as its also the living room and I already got a rug) so in this case I needed to tune the system for the room, and not the other way around.

Cheers all!

yes yes. I am a tuner too. I don't swap speakers or components on a continual quest. I can get "the sound" I seek with cables. I'll swap them out for variety too!

Cheers

The Au24e's are not bright - they are more neutral then the stock Au24 (which I have as a speaker cable and IC from CD to PRE) I have an e' from the Pre to my SS Amp.
The "e" is just more revealing of your equipment upstream.
Try throwing in a Nordost cable (Red Dawn, Baldur etc..) and see if you hear the same issue.

R. Levi likes WyWires better than the Au's. I've not heard the Au's but do own the WyWires. I agree with R. Levi - best ICs under $1k. No harshness here, and much cleaner/clearer than Cardas Golden Cross.