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Listening fatigue

This may be low-brow for Audiogon folks due to the nature of the gear, but here goes: I have a pair of Totem Mites driven by an NAD 326BEE, with an NAD 345BEE disc player and a Velodyne SPL-800 in my master bedroom (carpeted, basically about 15X20 with a small entry hall). The problem is fatigue – if the volume goes up, it gets to be too much very quickly. I've tried different speaker locations and padding on the first points of reflection, but it hasn't helped much. I'm using 12 gauge wire, but would an upgrade here help? Or is it an unfortunate component combo? Any suggestions would be appreciated ... thanks.
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Showing 3 responses by mapman

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mapman
15,679 posts
 
Its also possible that if the gear is new it will settle into a smoother presentation over time as things break in. You might want to play things a bit louder than otherwise in the meantime to help that process along faster perhaps, if possible.
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mapman
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Always tweak setup of what you have to optimize it fist before changing anything!

Try listening with less direct exposure to the tweeter output.

Try listening off axis from the tweeters and see if the fatigue is reduced or eliminated.

If it is, try setting up speakers so tweeters fire to either side of your listening position and not as directly at you, so you are listening at a similar off-axis angle.

Then play with the distance between speakers and distances to rear and side walls to avoid early reflections until you hear a nice balance of tonality without fatigue, soundstage and imaging, and bass levels.
mapman's avatar
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mapman
15,679 posts
 
Agree that clipping is a likely significant factor with most any SS amp of that power rating and most better modern smaller speakers.
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