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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.
jeddythree
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
How is it with no sub?
The sub may be not tracking along with the volume output of the speakers. So the sub gets too loud when you crank it up, but at lower levels it seems good?
The sub may also have room resonances that go crazy when loud.

An alternative' World view is you cannot listen long at loud volumes due to the hatred pouring from others outside your bedroom sending you "DIE NOW!" evil messages through the aether due to noise pollution?
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
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
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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