Excessive Midrange Energy?

Greetings,

I wasn't sure whether to post this on the digital forum or not, but I'll give it a whirl here.

Earlier this year, I completed a custom loudspeaker project using the Great Plains (Altec) 604 driver. Ever since building the speakers, I have been battling excessive midrange energy. I'm on my second set of XO's, and have a third option in the works.

I'm powering the system with a new Cary SLI-80, and have tried both modes of operation (triode and ultralinear). I think I prefer the sound of the triode mode, but it does nothing to tame the midrange energy.

My source is a 15+ year old Rotel RCD-965BX. Now, let me start by saying I'm not a big believer in moon rocks and snake oil, but I do wonder if the CD player could possibly be contributing to this issue.

I realize that capacitors and other electrical components age, and I was amazed at how my Sumo amplifier changed in sound as it got upwards of 10 years old.

Is it possible that the CD player could be causing, or adding to the excessive midrange energy, or is digital, well, digital? I just want to make sure I'm not barking up the wrong tree before I go borrowing CD players and such.

Thanks a bunch for any input!