Speakers sound too bright.


I just bought a new pair of Martin Logan 60xti speakers.  They are too bright and fatiguing.  I would like to avoid returning them.  I've tried toeing them in and out.  I cant get them further than 1ft away from the wall (back of speaker to wall).  I have a about 1-2 hrs of play time on them.  Not sure if break in will help settle the upper frequencies down. Any suggestions...?

rwalsh07

Break in and room acoustics are both very important. Find a playlist, any playlist on your favorite streaming service and let them rip for a couple of days.  Then try listening to them again. Carpet, book shelves with books, curtains are some simple things you can use in your room. Here’s a cheap way that I still use.  I bought one of those cheap, foldable room dividers and tossed a comforter over it. 
 

All the best.

Please let us know how things are sounding after break in.  You may get some very noticeable improvements.  It will be a question of if it's enough to make you tap your foot!  Good luck and cheers. 

Thanks everybody.  I'm going to let them break in and give them a chance.  I will make the suggestion of jumper wire and the bi-wire option.

That being said, what about the polarity discovery that I mentioned above in the thread.  One speaker had a positive polarity and the other speaker had a negaive polarity.  Speaker cable connection are running positive to positive and negative to negative.  Is the polarity discrepancy normal.  Do I leave it as is?

You might also try changing the tubes in your Freya+.
 

I found that a combination of Ken-Rad VT231’s in the gain stage and 5692’s in the buffer stage (RCA or CBS Hytron) to have the most solid bass. For a more budget friendly alternative, get Sylvania 6SN7 GTB’s from the 1960’s (about $35 each from Brent Jessee) and you might find that your high end is now airy without being so bright. BTW, any Martin Logans I’ve ever auditioned have been bright to my ears. But don’t discount the tubes in your preamp, especially if they are new production. They can sound hard.