Can good speakers take edge off digital?

sh?t in sh?t out!!!!!

I am completely on board with everyone who says to fix the offending problem - your digital front end.

A loudspeaker that would take the edge off the faults of your digital components is a loudspeaker I would never want in my system, as it's inevitably causing more problems than it's solving.

I've not known the Monarchy to be edgy in it's digital presentation. I had the M-24 which was only tube output stage that I used with a Northstar transport. In this price range a transport can make a difference. CC Poon at Monarchy sometimes recommends a jitter device between the transport and DAC, like his Monarchy DIP or a Genesis Digital Lens. Maybe that's worth a try, they're pretty cheap used. Otherwise maybe speaker positioning.

What's your room like. Room treatments could help if you're not using any. The people who suggested power conditioning may be on to something as well. RFI/EMI can add that edginess to the sound you are describing.

Jim Austin of Stereophile wrote in Oct 2007......

'My next Marantz player, which I still own and enjoy, was an SA-15S1. It's a beautiful thing, silver with a blue glow, and very well put together. It sounds very good—smooth and lovely—and not once has it failed to read a disc. Yet its display window is very reflective, which makes the display hard to read except in low light, and it has the same kind of flimsy plastic drawer found in all but desktop computers and all but a very few expensive players. These two things together suggest a certain slickness; my SA-15S1 is a very substantial player, but for me, the designer's ratio of prettiness to utility is a little high. Still, it remains my current standard.'

Is it a expensive ($1600?) garbage cd player?

IMHO Sony/pioneer make some awesomely cheap superb sounding cd players that are as expensive as a donut.

Never a good idea to use a component as a tone control.