Harshness in Midrange??? Any Help

My first guess would be the Kimber cables

i lived with kimber cable for a while. i was using the single ended version of the hero and the 8tc. i found them a bit heavy in the treble.

while i haven't heard the levenson amp in my stereo system, i have listened to them many times in other systems. certainly, i would not consider them "kind to the ear".

thus, if i were you i would listen to other cable and another amp.

my votes for the speaker wire. or perhaps the scd1, but methinks the speaker wire.

One or more dedicated AC lines should help. I have used the Kimber silver (8tc?) speaker cables and found the sound harsh. I greatly prefer Ensemble cables, also at some point in every great "digital" system, the DAC becomes the weakest link.

What is your room acoustics like?

What listening level are you using?

Is it only certain recordings?

I very much doubt there is anything wrong with your system. Alan Parsons uses your speakers (Pink Floyd fame). The rest of you gear is pretty much accurate at audio reproduction. If it sounds harsh then it probably is - it may just be the source!

What were you using before as system/speakers - what is your reference to say some recordings are harsh (The majority of speakers are voiced to be recessed in the upper mid range to avoid this issue...it is called the "BBC dip" - it may be why you think it sounds harsh compared to other consumer hi-fi you have heard)?

You can remove harshness with a PEQ by applying a slight dip at 4Khz.