Why am I experiencing listener's fatigue?

"improves low level detail" what is low level detail? I mean it seems self explanatory. I do find myself wanting to turn up the volume because at levels which are probably more comfortable i only get certain parts of the musical presentation. It is as though there are things I just know are there because i am familiar with a track or cd but am not hearing them at the level i am listening at, so i turn it up. Turning it up seems the only way to get at that info. Now i know that a good test for any system and especially an amp is its ability to present the whole frequency range at any volume or at least low volume. In other words it will play quite quietly and still give you the whole spectrum and maintain the integrity of the musical presentation. That is what i've gleaned from the internet and have come to accept as true. It could be wrong but i dont think so. So, anyways what i'm saying is i that i do think that the symptoms you describe are there in my system and that I'm turning it up too loud to get "everything" out. But not just that but bi wiring could get rid of at least some of the listening problems i have. IF you were able to change all that by bi wiring than that is what i'll need to do too. I am taking a huge break right now from listening, so everything will have to wait a while. thanks for the follow ups.The b&w story was great! Yes the 805's are pretty amazing when they're done right. They sound absolutely amazing to me but i have this problem. If anything is there downfall it would be there ability to match up, since they seem to be very specific about what they want. Is my understanding of low level detail correct?

I'm not an expert, but I think you understand it correctly. Could you please keep me posted on what happens. I am just curious what will be the solution for you. thanks

Just a follow up to this old thread. I recently bi wired the 805's with some plain speaker wire.( I sold my cardas wire ). This helped take out some of harshness in the treble to my surprise. Anyone reading this who has bw's should bi wire them and follow just what the manufacturer recommends. Another thing is the stingray coupled with the metal tweeters on the 805 i have read by an interviewer that this could in fact cause brightness. This also could be a contributing cause. Also i think the concrete stands are highmass which can be a good thing but one thing they dont do is dampen. I think since the 805's have threads in the bottom of their cabinets that they were meant to be coupled to a stand to transfer resonances and have them damped. I think heavy stands filled with sand and coupled to the speaker is the best situation. The blu tac i was using was probably too thick as well (the size of a pinball ) This i think isolated the speaker. A very very thin layer of blu tac would be better so that energy can transer to the stand but in the case of concrete even then there wont be much dampening. All this might effect imaging but perhaps this might be another possible culprit for the fatigue i was experiencing. A cardas golden reference interconnect helped too , as my diy interconnect i suspect, is a bit forward and harsh. Also i have logged another 150 hrs on the speakers which saw a more tonally balanced sound emerge. The woofers on these things are so rigid and well built that i would bet there are even more breaking in thresholds ahead if you have the patience to wait for them.

Summarizing: likely culprits:

not bi wired, manley / metal tweeter bad combo, poor speaker mounting, bright interconnect, speaker not fully broken in, turning up volume too loud to try to compensate exaccerbated the problem and symptoms

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Good to hear you were able to tame the brightness a little. I found that using Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun speaker cables and Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference Mk.II interconnects in my system took my N803s to another level completely. Very smooth sound, no brightness, no fatigue. Also, I added EchoBusters Corners behind the speakers and that helps a lot as well. Biwiring the B&Ws is the way to go. What you may also consider is another set of tubes for the Manley. I would suggest contacting Kevin at Upscale Audio. He would be able to give you an advise on what tubes to use to get all the detail without harshness. Anyway, good to see the follow up.

Classic B&W syndrome.