Alleviate brightness by using tube pre?

Components will never cure room anomalies, only deceive you into thinking that's what you're doing. GET SOME ASC TRAPS AND FRESCOES. Whenever you do get around to doing this, you'll realize that all the time you spent evaluating your system and trying to improve it BEFORE YOU GOT THEM WAS WASTED. They're plenty stylish, but if you can't put them in the room you listen in, then move to another room, or listen with headphones.

Carl is right, the cheapest and most benefficial way to upgrade your system is changes you can make in your room. Heavy curtains, persian rug, bookshelves...etc. Room acoustic is THE most important "tweak"

Hi Srama. The two above postees are right on-- treat your room. I've been there and done that, and ASC tube traps are great. If you added a tube pre-amp you would only have a little smoother irritating brightness. I envy your 20 ft. ceilings-- as long as your room isn't square you have potential for great music quality.

Yes, our room adds and subtracts a lot of information to audio signal. And, most of us don’t have a dedicated listening room for aggressive room treatment :( And, usually a good spot for speaker is a bad spot for our spouse :) You might want to use near field listening test to learn how much room you are hearing first. One possible way to combat room problem is to use planar speakers. I also believe that the tube front-end will elevate your listening pleasure to combat room problem.

Thanks to all of you for your thoughtful responses. A lot of my troubles are definitely room-related. I have a couple of -2 to -4 db dips at the 80-100 Hz range and some +5 db spikes in the 1.5 KHz and the 5-6KHz range. Moving the speakers closer to the wall alleviated the lower-frequency dips somewhat- unfortunately, I don't have an RTA, so its painstaking work! So, my next question is, what exactly are ASC tube traps/frescoes and where would I find information on them? Depending on their aesthetics, they may or may not be a viable option for me. (My wife already thinks I have gotten away with murder because I use Sound Organization shelves instead of a big, honking entertainment center!) Again, thanks for your responses.

Hi Srama. For ASC, go to www.tubetrap.com, It's located in Eugene, OR., but has a world wide reputation.

YOU'RE WELCOME. And talk to Ty Moyer when you deal with ASC. He's a very cool guy. The Frescoes are free standing, and should be used at the "first reflection points" on the side walls and the wall behind the speakers. Use 16 inch or larger "full rounds" in the corners behind the speakers. IF YOUR LISTENING SEAT IS CLOSER TO THE WALL BEHIND IT THAN THE WALL BEHIND THE SPEAKERS, put something like a small (portable) chair about 2 or 3 feet behind your listening seat, and balance a large, stiff pillow on top of that. THIS WAY, YOU WON'T HAVE TO TREAT THE WALL BEHIND YOU AT ALL. Also, don't listen in the nearfield (closer than 7 feet from each speaker in a large room), OR YOU'LL BE SEDUCED BY THE LACK OF ROOM ANOMALIES, and GIVE UP trying to fix your room...heh heh. AND YOU CAN BUY YOUR TUBE PREAMP AFTER YOU GET YOUR ROOM DIALED IN...cause you'll need the room COMPLETELY dialed in before you evaluate high end preamps.