What causes listener fatique? cure?

I find that most metal or inverted dome tweeters cause me listening fatique. Of course, there are exceptions. But, I haven't come across a lot of soft dome tweeters that irritate me. I find that I am becoming increasingly prone to the ill effects of a harsh system(headache, dizzyness, ringing, etc) as time goes by. Not sure if the reason is age, or being around systems that are tube/soft dome tweeter based. The cure is usually available. Either a speaker that features this type of tweeter, or retrofitting your speakers with a good soft dome(have done this). I don't believe that a lower priced speaker has to cause listener fatique. A great example would be the Coincident Triumph. A $1000 speaker featuring the fabulous Vifa D26 silk dome(my FAVORITE cheap tweeter). I have listened to this speaker in a system using an NAD integrated(with the treble set at +6 db), all StraightWire cabling, and budget CD players(Marantz, Pioneer, Sony), and it was still listenable(I didn't say good - but it didn't send me running, which I often do from a bright system) after an extended period.

Ok, I have to disagree with Trelja here. First, we agree that a bad or hot tweeter can certainly irritate. But I find that beamy soft dome tweeters are also irritating. The speaker recommended by Trelja may be fine, there are lots of good soft domes out there, but there are also a lot of good metal domes. My Harbeth Compact 7's have metal domes and I can listen to them forever.

If caused by the speaker, I think listener fatigue often comes from a bright upper-mid lower treble region, where the larger driver is working outside of its optimum range. I can think of a speaker with an 8 inch woofer a 3/4 inch tweeter and too high a crossover that tires me.

I've found a few things that outright bother me:

1) Cheap/older CD players have a digital brittleness to them.

2) Mass market solid state electronics played through powerful systems. I find that cheap little boomboxes are not as annoying by comparison.

3) High definition systems with a weak link. For example my audio physic system sounds wonderful, but if I put in a low quality component, you really hear it.

4) Gigantic, cheap mass market speakers. Hate them. I think those are the biggest ripoff in the world. You can buy a great sounding set of $200-300 monitor speakers and get much better sound.

5) CD's that are overprocessed. An example is the emmylou harris 'red dirt girl'. I think the performance would have been better if it had been left in a little more natural form. It sounds like it's been put through a digital blender then poured into an empty spam can (with a little extra gelatin).

6) Pop recordings from the 80's. Those were the days of big-@ solid state guitar amps played through fuzzed out, toneless plasti-kote guitars with a few infantile synthesizer backbeats for good measure. Go into a guitar store, and listen to a $400 ibanez with a line 6 processing amp against to a fender relic guitar played through a fender hot-rod tube amp, and you'll get the idea. What were they thinking? Ugghh.

i've found that almost anything in a system can cause listener fatigue. in my current setup, it took a tradeout of speaker cables to remove the last vestige of harshness that kept me from hours' long listening pleasure. .....kelly

I have to agree with Trelja on this one. Historically, metallic type tweeters have been prone to razor sharp detail,but also to a substantial amount of brightness. At first you say "I've uncovered a wealth of new detail", but then the reality that your not enjoying yourself as much sets in. Metal drivers seem to do it in every application I have heard. Some examples include, Dick Sequerra" ribbon tweeters, Apogee, ATC, Platinum and most Infinity designs. There are always exceptions, but brightness in tweeters is generally the worst offender in listener fatigue.