Plinius 9200 with Spendor s8e?

If the Spendors are new give them some break in time. Maybe a hundred hours or so.

New driver tubes may brighten things up. Seimens 6922s come to mind. I admit though, my knowledge and experience with tubes is limited. (you may be able to change to 7308s or some of the newer 6DJ8s, like EI Elites which I remember as being fairly sparkling)

You may be able to obtain a bit of sparkle by a cabling change. Adding a little silver sometimes helps. Depends on what you are currently using of course.

My overall impressions of the Plinius you mention was overall "warmth." Not bad at all, quite pleasent actually, but synergistically speaking, that may not be the best match.

Finally, I wouldnt be too hasty, I really like the V12 and I would not characterize this amp as being too warm. The Spendors however, are on the warm side while triangles are not. My opinion of course.

Whenever I have heard Triangles I've found their sound to have perceptably flat upper frequency responses. Not overly so, and in fact, this "flat" or "nuetral" presentation is the particular sound that I personally gravitate torwards. (not always though, its just as much fun coming from the other direction too)

One more thing Gary, if your room has a lot of acoustically absorptave materials, especially on the walls, it could be that removing a few of the absorptave items may "liven" up the sound.

The soft dome tweeters on a pair of Soliloquys sounded dead and lifeless until I had well over 250 hours on them. I left it on 24/7 for weeks. In your case (tubes) it may be time to take advantage of that liberal return policy at Best Buy!

Doh, you said Totems. I thought you said Triangles. No wonder you asked what the heck I was talking about.

I am glad you like the Spendors. I have been thinking about bringing a pair home for a heart to heart!

Sorry for not paying more attention.