Request advice-need "brighter" speakers than Totem Hawks

So, Lowrider: point taken. 

Maybe I should be asking
"what's a great integrated amp or pre-amp with 'wonderful' tone controls?"

B 

Update:
So, I had the amp (Sim Audio Moon W-5) maintained, diagnosed by some pro techs. There were some minor fixes, but nothing major wrong. The tech commented he had rarely seen such a well-built power amp. Sonically, his work translated to a minor improvement, but nothing along the lines of what I had been looking for. I subsequently found a couple of good buys on equalizers on eBay, and went for it (lots cheaper than a McIntosh pre/amp solution). I ended up with a dbx 1231 graphic eq, and an Ashly PQ-26 parametric. Both are pro-level gear (studio). The dbx arrived first, and it clearly made a difference, but the difference I got was an improvement, but not understated/subtle/natural sounding. Some harshness/fatigue/artificiality was present. Still, I considered this a promising step forward.

The Ashly PQ-26 was another story--significant differences were possible without incuring harshness or over-brightness. Wow. I still need to get the parametric eq dialed In a bit, and I wish it had "shelf" settings, but again, wow. Natural-sounding improvements are the hallmarks of a good parametric, and the Ashly did not disappoint. I put the Ashly between the power amp and the pre. It’s amazing. Recordings of music I love, but which have serious sonic quality issues were improved greatly. I’m really getting what I have been seeking at this point. I’ll either sell the graphic eq, or put it into another system in a different room. The Ashly is a keeper. Ran as much of the cabling as possible through balanced cables (Audience 24se and totem). I am deeply pleased with results so far. The Hawk speakers are responding beautifully.

Before trying the eq approach I read a bunch of cogent threads, so I established preferences before buying. My insights:

1. Eq is ok for meeting my particular needs--some hi Freq. hearing loss, and the quality and nature of my many recordings (CDs) have huge variation, suggesting some eq may be appropriate at times, and the Ashly has hardware bypass for purists.

2. For any eq gear intended for audiophile use, choose pro (studio) gear over consumer-grade gear. The I/O options are different (1/4" TRS instead of rca), but the balanced (XLR) option provides wonderful sound.

3. Parametric eq gives more control and has far less of a negative impact on fidelity vs graphic eq.

4. Though I thought about "tuning the room" with the eq, I decided to go with my ears over quantitative analysis via an RTA. RTAs give you a balanced/flat sound at one point: where you put the mic. I often listen from several spots in the room, so the RTA route made little sense (there seems to be some consensus in the forums on this--I agree strongly). The Hawks are also designed to be good for listening from multiple positions in the listening space, from what I’ve read.

5. I spent a lot of time on cabling, using swapped cables as expensive tone controls. Mistake. I needed to achieve big differences in hi freq. sound, and an eq gave me what I needed to achieve this, surprisingly, without destroying the quality of the listening experience, for example, by introducing harshness, overly bright highs, or quick-onset listening fatigue. Cool.

Thanks again to to all who advised me on this issue. Please feel free to comment/reflect on this development.
BH

Smart move on your part. Now you can begin to rediscover your music.

What are the settings you use on the parametric.  It would be useful info.

@onhwy61 
Sorry for the massively delayed response. 
A couple caveats before I reply to your request:
1. I tuned the EQ to work with my ears (lots of high frequency hearing loss). YMMV.
2. So these settings may be best for someone with similar issues. They are not good settings for people with no high frequency hearing issues. 
3. I was wrong: in a previous post I mentioned that the Ashly had no "shelf" functionality. Oops. I have shelf settings, which happen to be very useful. They are included below.
4. I adjusted both channels identically (L/R).
5. The settings given are for my "average" listening experience. Really shrill CDs, for example, have necessitated different settings in the highs (much less gain). 
6. I have had good luck with these settings on an SACD I tried (classical), but the vast majority of my listening is to redbook CDs, which are also vastly improved.
7. The bypass functions are really nice, but the cables are still going through an extra box, which noticeably degraded the "bypass all" signal compared to no EQ box in the signal path. I put the EQ box in between the pre- and power amps.
8. Since the Ashly is pro-gear, I used all balanced cables in the hookup of the EQ.
9. It took a few days of messing around to get the settings dialed in. There is a lot of personal preference involved.

Ashly PQ-26 Parametric EQ settings for a person with hearing loss in the high frequency range:

Master volume: -3db (gives me some headroom). 

Shelf-low:  60hz, +5db (no Q adjustment)

16-800hz: 16hz, +3db, Q=1 octave

50hz-2.4khz: 1.6Khz, +6db, Q=1.5 octaves

160hz-8Khz: 500hz, +3db, Q=3 octaves

500hz-24Khz: 24Khz, +15db, Q=3 octaves

Shelf-High: 14.5 Khz, +12db (no Q adjustment)

"Shelf" refers to setting a constant horizontal line starting at a particular frequency and gain, with no Q (for High Shelf all frequencies above the set freq. are increased/decreased by the amount of gain set--there's no "curve" or bandwidth envelope. Great feature, especially for my needs. 

I tried not to mess too much with the mids, because they were OK to begin with, but that wasn't the case once I started tweaking the low and high frequencies--a lot of presence and soundstage went away. The highest gains are set for higher frequencies to deal with my hearing. The bump to the bass is likely not necessary (certainly not needed for my hearing impairment) but when I tried it, the music sounded more lively, and I could hear the "attack" much more crisply in the lows. On the highs, you would think that setting the shelf up the way I have it would make the fully parametric setting (500hz-24Khz adjustment) redundant, but since I have bypass switches for every frequency adjustment (a great feature), I tested the combinations of these high freq. settings, and having both engaged gave the best results. 

Hope this is interesting to some.
Best,
-B
Other gear: Marantz SACD 8005, Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC (set on Solid State and modded--tube removed, nice op amps swapped in instead of ICs), Simaudio Moon P-5 Pre-Amp, Simaudio Moon W-5 Power Amp, Totem Hawk Speakers. Audience Au24SE cables throughout.