Help! AR9s sound terrible!

[jdance]

Hi all,

I recently received a component system consisting of a NAD T752 powering late-model AR9s - and it sounds horrible! I'd describe the sound as flat, harsh, and a bit cloudy. Another observation is that it seems like the speakers don't project sound into the room correctly. It sounds nothing like when I hook up my headphones to the receiver, which sound warm and beautiful. It also doesn't matter if the volume is soft or loud (but generally, I think that the speakers should be louder than they are - if you compare the sound output @ +0 db of the AR9s with my rear speakers (see below), its maybe 5-7db louder with the rears).

Basically, I am trying to figure out if something is wrong with the speakers (the speakers had been moved a number of times and were also in a non-heated garage for some cold months--could the cold have done something bad?), or if the NAD is just not a good match and buying an amp will fix it. Some people have told me that an amp would be a good idea, but also that the NAD is a good receiver and that it should be able to provide clean signal to the AR9s without a problem (just not too loudly).

A few more details - I am testing the speakers with the receiver in stereo mode; there are no other outputs involved. I have tested the source (I've mainly been using an iPod for music tests) using headphones (Senne HD-595), as well as hooked up the rears I have (I believe they are AR Sequels) as mains and those sound a lot better than the AR9s (ah, the speakers are to blame!) - they sound normal, albeit its quite clear they're not very good speakers. The AR9s are bi-wired with decent speaker wire. I've tested the speakers with normal and backwards polarity (in case something was mis-wired), and I've played with only powering HF to see how that sounds (still terrible). I've also tested only 1 speaker at a time, and the problem seems equivalent on both speakers (ah, the receiver is to blame!). Obviously, my tests are still inconclusive.

Any tests you can suggest to see if the problem lies with the speakers? Maybe get a recording of a tone going from 20 Hz to 20 kHz (anyone have one)? Granted I don't have another receiver/amp, else I'd tried that.

Please help!