Orchestral brass and fanfare - analysis of system

I believe you are experiencing the limits of recording practices and therefore this is a software issue. Garbage in, garbage out.

I agree with Lugnut. Every recording is different, and no single recording is absolutely perfect. Never judge your system based on one recording. Try to listen to as many similar albums as possible and you will see how your system handles the brass on a variety of recordings. That's the only way to get an accurate reading of how your system handles that particular element of a recording.

Different recordings were done with different players, in different rooms, by different engineers, using different equipment and different media...mixed and mastered by different engineers using different equipment and different media...pressed in different plants by different people using different equipment. Like audiophiles...all engineers have their own ideas of what music should sound like. Their recordings will reflect their individual taste and skill (or lack thereof).

you might just be overloading your room with the high frequencies. I assume you ment Copeland's symphony #3, and i'm assuming that you are referring to Reference Recording's edition in HDCD. You might try a some different recordings to see if you have a continuing problem or if your problem is with this one cd and your cdp.

I generally agree with the comments above, but let's take the answer a step further. If the problem proves NOT to be the recording, then I'd say the speaker is the culprit. I doubt very much that either the preamp or the power amp is the cause of the problem.

Bear in mind that massed brass generates a lot of acoustic energy in the upper mid-range, not just the high frequencies. So, you have be experiencing a limitation caused by the B&W 805's. I have sold B&W speakers professionally, and their lower-priced models can be a little edgy in the frequency range you are describing. Try borrowing a set of speakers that are known to have smooth upper-mid and high frequencies and see how the system sounds.

The last item you may want to explore are your interconnects. You don't state which model of AQ interconnects you are using, but if they are among the lower priced models that AQ makes, you might want to try a different brand, such as Kimber's Hero, or Alhpa-Core Goertz TQ2. I have found these two interconnects to do a very nice job in my own system with the upper frequencies.

Not only, Patrick!
The symphonical brass recordings do stress a lot the speaker drivers with the widest freequency spectrum including unaudiable freequencies(that basically signify the tembre of a particular instrument or group) that are present in this case on significant levels that are probably beyond the speaker curve. To reproduce symphonical brass I believe there should be the power-hungry full-range speakers and a huge power to drive them. If these conditions are not met there will be a huge amout of destructive mutual influence between different instruments and the ONLY ONLY way to cut this problem to the roots is to go to the concert hall and listen to it live.
Thus, the only test for the speaker/amp I don't do is the symphonical brass mentioned here even despite my adoring of Symphony 5 and 9 of Beethoven. Not for my budget or even not for my twice-budget either.
In case with CD or even HDCD(forbid my analogue habbit skeptics) the highs are extreamly limited and cut and so might and probably do inflict such distortions that are unaudiable on higher volume levels but still I bet present.
I must say that the author of this forum should contact Sean(the member of the 'gon) that has a pretty vast knowlege how it's done in reality and how expencive it could be. Also talk to Rives that might define if there is some room issues in that case.