The high range on my speakers are harsh...

The Rotel is a 60W amp (from what I found on the web), which means with lower sensitivity monitors, like the small Paradigms, it's pretty easy to push enough power through the Rotel to cause it to clip.

Do you notice the crackle all the time, or only when you turn it up a little and during the program peaks?

Have you tamed first reflection points or tried any kind of room treatment?

I'm just guessing on this one. Assuming all of your equipment is OK, since you said this was there from the beginning of this system. First off, I would substitute another pair of speakers, if possible. The crackling statement is a concern, thinking that it could be something else, like too much volume, or another problem. I'm going mainly on the harsh part of your description.

This would help verify if anything is wrong. Also, Paradigm speakers like these have a metal dome tweeter, that some people just can't handle. They usually have a resonance that is right above 20 kHz. That resonance will cause some people that are sensitive to it to not listen at all. I'm one of these people. Also, I've seen several people state they have a problem with fatigue, using speakers like these.

Another problem may be that your amp can be accentuating the problem some. The only thing I have to go on stating this is this review from Italy. They say the amp is a little bright also. That could definitively be making this problem worse, if this is what is happening with the speakers, assuming all the equipment is functioning OK, and again, not being played too loud.

If at all possible, see if you can try another pair of speakers, that have a soft dome tweeter. Maybe something used, or from a store that has a try, and return policy.
Don't try anything that has a metal tweeter in it, at all. Some soft fabric dome (even soft silk dome) , or a soft poly/polymer type of dome tweeter. These don't normally have this ringing resonance that is common with metal dome tweeters. They talk some about the tweeter resonance here on another similar model. Also this model is another example of that tweeter resonance (I call it noise) frequencies not heard by a lot of people. You could see the peaks at the right side (high frequency tweeter side) of the graph called "Frequency in Hz."

If you could do this no cost speaker swap trial with soft dome tweeters, that may be the answer your seeking. This would be what I would try first, if it was me. This is the best I can picture might be happening with your description, except the crackling part. But that may be how you hear it, if your sensitive to it. I hope this helps.

In addition to my first post (they may come through out of order), in the last paragraph, I made this statement about the speaker,"If you could do this no cost speaker swap trial with soft dome tweeters." I'm referring to the speakers as a whole, not just a tweeter swap. Just a tweeter swap, is not a good idea. Too much engineering involved there.

Also, if swapping a receiver, or another amp might be easier for testing, you could see if you still hear that harsh problem. It may be less harsh, but if the harsh sound is still is a problem, that would lean toward the speakers in my opinion. A TV, and computer shouldn't have the same problem most of the time. Sorry for the late night goof-ups.

Paradigms are noted for harsh high end, IMHO they are voiced to stand out in a showroom playing rock.
THE Canadian speaker is PSB, never heard one that sounded harsh.

The V.6 Mini's are not harsh like some of there earlier speakers, Good all around speakers and hard to beat at the price. You may have a faulty one, is the problem from both? They really prefer a decent amp in the 100 watt range or more.

I would like to thank you all for the responses.

To clear up some questions:
- The high end problems were coming from both speakers.
- The crackling was sporadic, not consistent.
- I have not undergone any kind of room treatment.

Hifitime - Thank you for such a detailed post. Your research points were very informative and helpful. I brought my amp to my friend's place and attached it to his two Kenwood KLH AV 55 tower speakers. Sounded fine. Couldn't make it crackle. Then I reconnected everything and tried to make the tinny/crackly sound happen on my set up and found that that was difficult to do as well. I tried pandora, iTunes, and streaming from Hulu and Youtube, but sound was fine. However, on further analysis, I found that on certain site where I stream television programs or movies, etc. the audio quality is poorly uploaded as with the video quality at times. And some of my music that is much older has a lower quality as well. I think I have concluded that this is not a hardware issue, but a data issue. What do you all think?

10-29-12: Kfwulf
I would like to thank you all for the responses.

To clear up some questions:
-
-
- I have not undergone any kind of room treatment.

If someone were to put new tires on their Cadillac but not fill them with air I would expect the ride to be a bit "harsh" as well.
Unless you have a very big room?

How do things sound w/a good source. Phono or cd? You may want to change out your 16ga. spk. cables. (What are you using?) Hifi Cables UK sells the excellent QED 79 strand spk. cable. Warm sounding cable and extremely affordable. Not all metal domes are harsh/bright. It sounds like you have a source issue that needs to be addressed first and foremost. Your Rotel/Paradigm are really good pieces but they may not make the best pairing. Perhaps a Marantz or NAD int. amp may sound better w/your spks. Good Luck!

I'd bring the speakers to your friend's house too and see if the problem exists. If it doesn't you may be having a speaker cable or dirty connection problem somewhere in the chain. The fact that you re-connected your amp to your speakers and the problem decreased seems to point to some corrosion/dirt in the connnection. Maybe try some connection cleaner and see if that helps?

Brightness/harshness is often caused by poor speaker positioning in relation to the listener. The distance from the walls, the distance between the speakers, the distance from the speakers to the listener, speaker height, toe-in and tilt can all cause brightness. Depending on the size of your room, you may not be able to accomplish a perfect setup, but I've found that small things like reducing the amount of toe-in and or tilting the speaker back slightly can reduce harshness.

Here's a good summary of things to try.

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/speakerplacement.html

If you had a CD player in the system, then it may be easier to find the problem. A CD player has fairly consistent sound quality, in comparison to a computer, or TV for the source. I'm not too knowledgeable about computers, but the ones I've used listening to something off of the net, can vary a lot in my experience.

A TV can be inconsistent with sound and picture also. When I hear a commercial on one channel, it may sound good. Hearing it on another channel can give good, or bad results. So a TV doesn't always help in finding a problem.

Then the computers themselves get moody, and change at times. So I'm thinking something more consistent like a CD player, or DVD player may help in this case.

You mentioned streaming YouTube. If you download something that sounds good to you using RealPlayer may help a little. When you get this sound problem, play that video that you downloaded to RealPlayer, and see if it sounds OK. This isn't as good as a standalone CD player for consistency, though. But still, may give you more of an idea.

Using the output from a computer using these (streaming) sources you mentioned don't have the sound quality, like a CD does. All of my computers own sound outputs, vary a lot too. Even if I play a CD in them.

Your speaker and amp combination, is probably really accentuating any small problem.

A poor connection is a possibility, but you are using two different sources (TV and computer), with separate cables for each. So, I'm thinking the odds are slim that both are making a poor connection, since this problem existed, since you bought the system.

I guess what I'm still saying is a CD player, DVD player, may help a lot in finding if it's your system, or the inconsistent (computer/TV) sources you're using, causing your problems. If you don't have a CD player, see if you could get one for testing. This is the only other thing I can think of, since its sound quality way more reliable, especially using the same good sounding discs. Other than this, I'm kinda out of ideas. I hope you find an answer to this.