Help! My system is very bright it hurts my ear

Mapman may be right.  I, however, have a very bright room poker room in our sub-basement:  low ceilings, slate floor over concrete, and horrible slap echo.  It is a very bright room.  DEQX after installing half a dozen sound traps was the only answer.

Thanks a lot guys...that us a lot of excellent input...I will try a little at a time as time permits n some time to digest all input...u guys are great...to map man...is the bel canton c5i really that great???

To low rider...yup, living sucks...is 20x60 n carpet...concrete with laminate floor n one glass table top n a big mirror at end of living room...I know it suck...

@fatgosil, there are ways to improve the acoustics of your room. Use several throw rugs in your listening area, or an oriental rug.
You need wall-hangings, or better yet, some acoustic panels for sound absorption.
Don't try to fill the entire room with sound. If you haven't already, create a living space close to your system. How far away is your current listening area from the speakers?

Take a look at the Virtual Systems section and see how other members have treated their rooms. Those with systems in the living room (myself included), use rugs, drapes or curtains, plants, bookshelves to absorb standing waves which include mid and high frequencies. I have a tapestry hanging on the wall behind me and it helped reduce the brightness from my system.

Do you have a source other than your CD player, such as a tuner or TT? You have a good CDP, but Amperex tubes can have an "edge" or sound bright with some CDs.

Also, if the gain of the CDP is too high for the preamp, it will sound bright.

@almarg,
Al, the Input Sensitivity of the Macintosh c40 preamp is 250mV (at the time of 2.5V Output power) (50mV IHF).
Input impedance is 22kohm. Interconnects are unknown.
How does this match with a CDP having an Output of 2.2 Volts?