So much to comment on, so little time :-) I see lots of solutions that swap pieces and throw money at the problem. I'd first do some trouble isolation. Step #1 would be to adjust speaker placement and angle to see not only if you can fix it, but if you can at least change it. For example, moving the speakers off axis a bit might give you a HF decrease where you sit.
In the overall context cables and dragon-toothed plugs are a total waste of money. Focus on the basics. I tend to agree that you likely have too much stuff, of too little quality, with too small a room, but proceed logically, step by step.
Can you borrow some components to substitute in? I would substitute in a different source (CD/DVD) and see what difference THAT makes, next a receiver. I am not up on current receivers, so i wont comment on brands - i live at the other end of the spectrum. In the old days NAD made some nice stuff, as did Rotel. In that room you need less than 20 wpc, except maybe to drive a subwoofer for movies.
I also tend to agree that the first order effect is likely speakers, followed by speaker-room interaction. I know you were asked, but why do you have four sizable speakers? Concentrate your fire! Get smaller, higher quality speakers that you can position idally - and maybe move for music vs movies. If in fact you have a 100% return policy, i might go in and ask - within the period, to listen to a bunch of smaller speakers of high quality and listen for "musicality". On quick back to back comparisons the louder or brighter speaker always wins - and will torment you ti; you;re "praying for the end of time to hurry up and arrive" - a notably bright album I'll add :-)
To get an objective view of what;s going on maybe you cna find a local audio geek with a doppler or pulse spectrum analyzer. It puts out wide spectrum noise and then measures the in-room response. You find out if you really do have a rising high frequency, and then you ask the store "why?" They wont know, but it outs you in a good place :-)
If i had a small room, and I;ll date myself here, I'd have a NAD 3020 and a pair of Met-7s, with some active subwoofer stuffed behind a table. Or similar. Maybe something designed since man landed on the moon, but you get the idea.
In the overall context cables and dragon-toothed plugs are a total waste of money. Focus on the basics. I tend to agree that you likely have too much stuff, of too little quality, with too small a room, but proceed logically, step by step.
Can you borrow some components to substitute in? I would substitute in a different source (CD/DVD) and see what difference THAT makes, next a receiver. I am not up on current receivers, so i wont comment on brands - i live at the other end of the spectrum. In the old days NAD made some nice stuff, as did Rotel. In that room you need less than 20 wpc, except maybe to drive a subwoofer for movies.
I also tend to agree that the first order effect is likely speakers, followed by speaker-room interaction. I know you were asked, but why do you have four sizable speakers? Concentrate your fire! Get smaller, higher quality speakers that you can position idally - and maybe move for music vs movies. If in fact you have a 100% return policy, i might go in and ask - within the period, to listen to a bunch of smaller speakers of high quality and listen for "musicality". On quick back to back comparisons the louder or brighter speaker always wins - and will torment you ti; you;re "praying for the end of time to hurry up and arrive" - a notably bright album I'll add :-)
To get an objective view of what;s going on maybe you cna find a local audio geek with a doppler or pulse spectrum analyzer. It puts out wide spectrum noise and then measures the in-room response. You find out if you really do have a rising high frequency, and then you ask the store "why?" They wont know, but it outs you in a good place :-)
If i had a small room, and I;ll date myself here, I'd have a NAD 3020 and a pair of Met-7s, with some active subwoofer stuffed behind a table. Or similar. Maybe something designed since man landed on the moon, but you get the idea.