Which speakers did you find bright, fatiguing or just disappointing in some way?

Klipsch without a doubt. If you want to listen to glass shattering then they are the speakers for you. Anything else and they are too shrill.

the kef ls50s disappointed because they were not transparent enough, they sounded like midbass and treble but still very good.  

my psb towers were neutral, unrefined and forward to a fatiguing fault but at the same time had too much bass.  

the spendor D7 were overall awesome but ultimately too much midrange even though it was clean sounding and not enough midbass.  

It just occurred to me that most people who dis B&W's (800 series) have only heard them on the terrible ROTEL equipment at Best Buy.  I agree that they are overpriced, but what isn't?  If you want to hear what B&W can do, go to am audio expo and listed to the actual Nautilus, with its four stereo amps of 350 wpc.  I know people who spent more and got less, even with only one amp.  Check out a google search of  Lucas Sound's demo system, with a whole bunch of diamond 800 speakers.  Even this system costs less than a lot of folks pay.

Monitor Audio Studio 20

I once heard some B&W 601s at a show with some friends. They were on chrome pedestal stands being driven by some Arcam gear.

We were all surprised that such small speakers could sound so large.

I later auditioned some 602s and whilst I didn’t end up buying them, there was no denying that they were very well rounded speakers. [ I’ve also heard some B&W Zeppelin Bluetooth speakers which were nothing to write home about, but that’s another story.]

Therefore it’s a bit strange to read that later and far more ambitious models are failing to satisfy.

Surely, in a head to head, the 800 series would be better than the 600 series? Especially given the reputation of their much vaunted tweeter tech in their larger speakers.

Could it be that as asking the price goes up our expectations go up accordingly?

If so, then would it ever be possible to be satisfied?

Therefore might it not be better to forget about price and judge purely on sound quality?

For example I heard the Kerr K320s at another show and whilst I loved them, I found the much larger (and more expensive) K1000s left me cold. They just sounded more washed out despite their power handling and dynamics.

They reminded me of the Naim S 600 with their BMR driver. Impressive in scale but not in tone.

This thread seems to be suggesting that every listener has a correspondingly different set of needs when it comes to loudspeakers.

One which often defies price.