Will a new amp tame the treble of my Kef Q300 system?

Unfortunately you are the victim of the loudness wars! 

Sadly most modern music is poorly mastered/engineered - Pendulum & Kings of Leon being good examples! I find the same listening to Adele & Florence & the machine on my Rega set up! Spin Kate bush 50 words for Snow on cd or vinyl and all is well again..... The thing with artists like Kate bush they actually have input in the mastering - I doubt the engineers care how Adele is mastered cos they know it will sell millions for everyone iPods no matter how poor it sounds.

BTW your system is a good system.....the marantz is warm.  Stick with it you just have to accept the shortcomings of poorly mastered CDs - you could try vinyl - I did and never looked back. 

What interconnects are you using?  I have Q300s too and found that with the components in my system the Chord Crimson Plus interconnects I bought originally gave a brighter sound.  I swapped to some Atlas Element Integra cables and, for me, the overall sound throughthe speakers mellowed.

Worth exploring this avenue perhaps...but depends on how bright is too bringht.  In my case the brightness I heard was not overpowering...just annoying.

Not sure about running in time but I have seen figures, for the Q300s, of at least 80 hours beiing required...but that is just what I have read.  Perhaps the more knowledgable on this forum can advise further?

Cables won't help - poorly mastered CDs is the problem as the OP has already said done music sounds great 

the OP has already said he has changed silver cables to copper, the crimson is not a bright cable 

OK, just making a suggestion based on what I had found.  Thought it might be helpful. 

Yeah sorry my post sounded a bit aggressive! 

Steve is right about recordingand mastering of CDs - some make your system sound fabulous while others can make you gloomy. There is two realistic choices: Either stick with your current system or look at a more ear-friendly amp. If you go with the latter then this will do brilliantly, both matching with your source and speakers and price.  http://www.richersounds.com/product/amplifiers-receivers/arcam/fmj-a18/arca-a18-blk

Thank you all for your kind replies.

I hadn't really given due consideration to the variances in recording quality to be honest. That does make sense. Pop in Robert Plant & Alison Kraus and the whole system sounds beautiful, rich, detailed and warming. Similarly, Hot Chip's latest album and FLAC versions of Deadmaus' 'everything before' are just startlingly dynamic and arresting. Even the DAB radio built into the 7004 sounds great sometimes, streaming out BBC 6music! 

The above said, I still find that more listening than not grates to an extent. I put this down to the metal tweeter, again perhaps I'm wrong. 

Having been doing a lot of research recently, I am currently being drawn towards a potential new system - Epos Epic 2 speakers, Riga Brio amp and keeping the Marantz NA7004 as source. Do you have any comments on potential synergy there?

Dave

Just make sure you demo whatever kit you plan to buy. Buying based just on reviews or star ratings alone is a total 'no no', hence why the Arcam may well be a better match with your current system and ears.

Good luck.

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Thanks for the further info.

What is it about the Arcam A18 in terms of character, which makes you think it could be a better match? Is it generally a smoother sound?

Hi I recently bought Some Marantz gear (PM6004, CD6004, & NA7004) and Q Acoustics 2500I 's connected with Van Dam Blue 2.5 cables.Two new CD's One Les Miserables Highlights absolutely superb.One (the wife's) Mick Hucknall American Soul Very unimpressive quality.Sounded worse tham MP3 So I doubt very much that it is your system that is at fault. It is the recordings. My setup is also very good with vynil on an old Technics turtable with plenty of bass.

In a word: Control.

I had the same experience. I previously had an enty-level DIVA Arcam amp which was fantastic for the money, but when cranked up a little it didn't have cohesion as when playing at low levels. Enter the Leema, although brighter than the Arcam, and thru the same troublesome tweeters, any shillness had evaporated.

The A18, IMO, is a better amp than the Marantz and has little extra power, which always helps. But a dem will confirm this or not.

You have to be careful when trying to tame "occasional brightness". If you achieve this, it may well make the brighter discs sound more palatable, but then you'll find that the discs that sounded fine are now sounding a little lacklustre. Personally, I don't mind putting up with the odd harsh note here and there in order to put up with a system that sounds great with everything else.

I've only skimmed through the replies so I don't know if I'm repeating anything, but just make sure that your speakers aren't too close to the side walls. Also, do you have a carpeted floor or a laminated floor? Laminated floors tend to reflect high frequencies, so can exaggerate brightness.

And to add to the Arcam suggestion, they've always worked well with KEF speakers - Arcam were demonstrating their new A19 with the R300's at the Bristol show and it was one of the better sounding systems at the show.

You are not alone! I find, and many with me, thattoday speakers have too bright treble! That is because that give attention from the listener who says Wow and buy them. But those speakers you can't have a long listening session. All those "commercial" brands have this. I think the better speakers you will find by Dynaudio, Harbeth, Spendor.

Loving treble on Rega speakers! 

I really think you have to accept some recordings are going to make any speakers treble bad! 

I love my system but I know some  of my CDs are painful in the treble department - this is all down to poor mastering and having the dynamics trashed for the iPod generation