The moron that posted that was me. I have made a terrible mistake. When I reconnected my old speakers to these same electronics yesterday I realized I still had the same problems. It was in fact a problem with my very old preamp. I will be going back to AA to apologize to Ian and Axiom and eat a big plate of crow pie. I apologize to all for not looking into all the possibilities before posting that. I am ashamed and embarrassed.