Likely culprit for harshness at higher volumes?

Hi folks,

I tried hooking up on iPod Touch -- it sounded terrible pretty quickly. Both my pre-amp and CD player have headphone outputs. I'm going to order the headphones recommended by almarg -- I wanted some headphones for watching videos on my iPod Touch anyway. I also need to buy some known good source material as well.

It does seem that overdriving the room is having a first order effect. I can add/remove much of the harshness I've been hearing just with fabric, although there is still some at louder volumes (loud but not uncomfortable) that I haven't been able to remove yet. I had changed out my KEF C75 (floor standing) with KEF Q10 (bookshelf) - this seems to have helped a bit but still experimenting. I think the Q10s are less efficient than the C75's -- it seems I need to increase the volume setting on the pre-amp to get similar volumes levels as the C75. I'm also playing around with fabric (sheets, towels) placement.

I'm also trying different speaker placements to get the imaging right. I'm beginning to think that even if I had the best stereo equipment in the world, it would still sound lacking unless I know the art of speaker placement and room acoustics.

Here's a few CDs that I have that I consider to be some of my best recordings. I think they may be something that you'd enjoy listening to. Amazon.com sells all of them.

Bach: The Brandenburgs - Jacques Loussier Trio

Violin Solo - Ning Feng

Holst: The Planets - Gustav Holst (Decca, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta)

The Canadian Tenors

Tanking a Chance on Love - Jane Monheit (the 1st song on this CD was a favorite demo for the salesman that sold me the majority of my audio system. He would jokingly say, "If you don't like this, get the hell out.")

From my experience: metal dome tweeters, too much speaker toe-in, poorly engineered ICs and/or connectors, and too thin SCs.

My experience is similar to Rockadanny's post.

I had metal dome tweeters that were toed in with cheap poorly made ICs but my SCs were budget 12 AWG wire. I had made incremental changes with ICs and SCs but the biggest change was going to soft dome tweeters.

Also I think another cause was lack of room treatment. I had lots of bare walls and minimal furntiure in my room at the time.

Saru, I suggested earlier and maybe missed it in one of your replies, but why not tell us where you are located. You may be surprised by other people who reside not too distant from you would be willing to help you out a bit.

Sebrof's comments about saturating your room (overdriving) is relavent. Every room will eventually hit a saturation point and performance can/will abruptly change when that happens.

I am still confused by the references to volume, but in particular you have made some statements about when you turn the volume up to painful levels (ie. well beyond your normal listening levels) is when you experience the greatest problems. I think a lot of us don't turn the music up to painful levels or over saturate our rooms. Part of my note on this is, why do you care what your system sounds like at levels well above what you will want to listen to it?

I am in Kalamazoo Michigan. If you reside near me, I would be happy to help you out. I have plenty of extra equipment (digital, preamps, amps, speakers), cables, sound panels.