Vacuum tubed tone control???

You're better off addressing which component or components are unmusical.

IMO, and it's only my opinion...neutral components inherently create an unmusical system. They may send the signal along to the loudspeakers in an unaltered state, but those systems that I have heard with this attribute have sounded dry and lifeless...although one could clearly hear the second trombonist's shoe squeak.

Now, I'm donning my Nomex suit to protect against the inevitable flames from the Absolutists in the group.

Seriously, though, try a Paradisea DAC. It's $500. Cheap. Like the relative cost of a single potato chip to the cost of an entire lunch when you consider the total cost of your system. It will make your digital source musical, and it will bring a smile to your face. Promise.

:)

Give some consideration to the following pro audio oriented tubed EQs

D.W. Fearn VT-4 -- it's mono, you'll need two
SPL Qure
Tube Tech EQ-1 -- it's mono
Drawmer 1961
Millennia NSEQ -- has both tube and solid state EQ
Manley Massive Passive

All of the above are built to audiophile quality standards and will allow you tremendous flexibility in how you can shape your system's sound. Unfortunately, they only offer up to 4 bands of EQ and can't match my McIntosh 8 band. Mine will still be bigger than yours!

Seriously, I do find it a little strange that you want your digital source to match the frequency and dynamically limited performance of your FM. If that's really what you want to do, then you might want to reconsider how you put your system together. It could be that you're not a high powered solid state kind of guy?

Hi Tvad, That would probably be the amps. I'd love to get a tube amp, or a nice turntable for that matter, but I've got the WAF to be concerned about. Besides, I've already spent way too much money on the system in the last few years and my wife doesn't want to deal with a turntable. So unless it's a lateral change of components-same price point used-, it's probably not happening. I'm waiting for the EMM Labs cd player to breakin. It only has about 430 hours on it. It's been running 24/7 since I got it. Hopefully, the EMM Labs is the last stop. I understand that there is a very long breakin, however. Best wishes, Stan

Talon4 and Tvad are making very real points that shouldn't require Nomex suits in order to voice safely.

For 18 months during 2004-2005, I was living as an expat in an apartment in Holland, and had to "make do" with a simple Linn Klassic system that cost about $1,700. Somewhat to my surprise, I really, really enjoyed it. Almost everything sounded at least acceptable on it, and many CDs were quite sensuously pleasing. Sure, it wasn't "high-end." And it was obviously rolled off in the top. But I had a lot of happy sessions with it, nevertheless.

In the 2 years I've been back, I feel like I've been in a constant battle with the high-end system I left behind (and its various successors) to obtain a consistently pleasing and pleasant sound (as some of you may have noticed from my other posts). I've been using some darn good equipment, that too often tells me (a) how lousy some recordings sound, or (b) how lousy some mastering jobs are, or (c) both at the same time. I have really had to step back and ask myself, why am I doing this? Maybe it's just me, but finding equipment that tells you about the detail in a recording, without rubbing your nose in the all-too-frequent negative aspects of that detail, seems to be a major, major challenge. And I feel very sympathetic to those that seem to suffer from that same frustration, and am very glad to have the resource of the Audiogon forum in which to vent those concerns.

FWIW, I recently sold my preamp, amplifer, and loudspeakers. I replaced them with an integrated amplifer and another pair of loudspeakers. All totaled, I pulled $4k out of the system (40% of the total cost).

The new system is more musical than the old system, and I find it to be more satisfying. There is less overall resolution, but I find I enjoy the music more.