Looking for more transparency.

Do you still have the grills of your speakers in place? A lot of folks do -they usually just look better that way. When you're young with great hearing it probably doesn't make much difference, but as you start to suffer from age induced loss of the higher frequencies it can become critical. If you haven't already tried, do it. FWIW.

Elizabeth,

All of a sudden, things are sounding much better lately!
Maybe things are breaking in or maybe my attitude has changed, or a combination of both.
  I realized something very interesting, that others may be appreciative of.  When I first play something in a day, if it doesn’t sound good, my feelings are colored by that for the rest of the day and beyond.  Just browsing through my very old preamp manual, I noticed it said the unit takes about a half hour to warm up and work properly. Now, of course, I have known about warmup of equipment forever.
But, never realized how important first impressions have an effect on the psyche.
 In other words, I was letting my mind get spooked by the first sounds I was hearing, and that ruined my mindset for a long time. I don’t know if we realize how much of a part the mind plays (like sex) in the enjoyment of the experience.
So..... Now I don’t really start listening until my preamp is hot and
Voila! I’m a happy camper.

A quote from Bill Low of AudioQuest : " To Do Less Harm ".