How do I smooth out violins?

After reading your post and the responses, I listened to several CDs to see if I could hear anything similiar.

Beethoven Sym #9 1st movement
Bohm and the vienna Phil

Same piece but Karajan and the berliners SACD.

Julia Fischer Bach concertos with ASMF

The Fischer disc was a little fast, but the strings were easy on the ears. no complaints. Of course she was great.
The Bohm was GREAT. Very smooth. No irritation at all.
The Karajan sounded sort of harsh and strident.
Both of the Beethovens were recorded by DG.
The Bach by DECCA.

A lot of CDs are like this with big orchestras. I own a lot of them. Have not listened to them in years, once a I got a better performance and recording. Just a wall of sound that sort of grates on the ears.

I would advise you, as someone said, get a KNOWN well recorded violin heavy piece and listen. If you find it grating on your ears, then maybe you do have a gear peoblem. But remember, if your system will play at least ONE CD with mass violins to your satisfaction, then it will play ALL properly recorded CD the same way. If you modify your system to make BAD cds sound better, what will it make the GOOD cds sound like. Don't say, ' MO Better' :) Beethoven's 5&7 by Carlos Kleiber and the Vienna is considered one of the best classical recordings. Try it.
The Philadelphia Orch with Ormandy was know for it's violin section. But that was on LP. I can't believe I just said that. :) Good Luck.

Cheers

Try listening to some Sonus Faber speakers if you can. Stringed instruments are their forte. The Cremona M's are extremely nice.

Many possible causes. Here's what I did. 1) Got rid of any power cables that had any silver. (2) plugged my digital components into a balanced power conditioner. Good luck with find your solution.

I will also support the idea of getting power conditioning and better power cords. After that I think you need better cables and CD player for classical music......

IMO, you should decide on one of two approaches to solving the problem: 1. tackle the problem in a way that will give you long-term satisfaction according to your tastes and priorities by intelligent system building, or 2. use band aids now to tame a specific problem that will "help" this specific problem, but inevitably take the positive possibilities of your system.
Huh, you say?

1. Realize that the problem you are describing is a common (but not necessarily a deal breaker) problem with digital recording AND playback. This gets better all the time with new technologies and refinements of old, but compared to the sound of live strings, you will probably have to accept less-than-perfect at a price level anywhere near what you are talking about. There are many really good digital orchestral recordings as Almarg recently reminded me. But, there are an awful lot that exhibit the problem you are describing, and it won't matter what equipment you use for playback. However, the CD player can aggravate the problem already on the recording. So, that's where I would start. I really like the Ah! Tjoeb (Marantz
based) CD players in the budget level. It uses a tube output stage and sound fantastic with orchestral music. Always remember: any problem that is created by the source component will be there all the way to the end of the chain. You can mask it, but you will also mask information that you do want.

2. You can mask the problem. Some good suggestions above with cables and tweaks. Personally, I don't recommend taking that route. Your speakers and amp are solid, the CD player and pre, less so IMO. Tackle the problem in a way that will make you happy long term.

My two cents. Good luck.