Dealers and exaggerated treble

I think people have different sensitivity to treble curves. So you may be quite different from a dealer in that regard and there is nothing "wrong." Also, dealers usually carry different speaker lines for different ears, so unless they are all bright i doubt there is an issue.

I would actually trust good dealers in LA moreso than any internet forum. Several of them are *excellent* setup guys. One took 12 hours to setup my friends Alexxs. But most audiophiles enjoy crappy setup sound at home instead to save a few $ vs using someone who has 20-30 years of experience in all types of rooms.

True, there can be an inverted phase issue from time to time - but that's an outlier not the norm. By golly guys...

@testpilot  wrote...Perhaps one of the upstream components inverted phase.  

@kenjit wrote...does not matter where the phase was inverted. It should be immediately obvious unless you have bad hearing or it was deliberate.

Sure it does.  A lot of pre-amps invert phase, therefore, many users will wire their speakers out of phase in an attempt to restore correct phase.  Also, please direct me to a link that describes the recording industry's standard for proper phase when recording.  You have a 50/50 chance of getting the correct phase due to the lack of an industry phase standard.

@testpilot  I am talking about one channel being out of phase with the other.  

Testpilot, Inverted phase in one channel only!

Even some speaker manufacturers over-emphasize the treble and fool the audience into thinking they are hearing extra air and detail -- but they are not; furthermore, when they get the speakers home, they find that they give them listening fatigue.