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

Anybody remember Speaker Lab? They made DIY speaker kits. Their top-of-the-line model was called the Model K. It was a giant corner horn speaker modeled after the Klipshorn. A buddy of mine had four of them, one in each corner of his 10x12 bedroom and driven by a Phase Linear 400 watt amp. I don’t know if they were fatiguing or not. I couldn’t stand to stay in there long enough to find out. If the room is rockin’, don’t bother knockin’.

Dali and B&W...both too bright and fatiguing. Never again...Tannoy "fan boy" (hate that phrase) from now on.

Klipsch speakers all were too forward in the upper mids for my taste. the Speakerlab knock-off big horns sounded [aside from the bass] the way i wished the Klipsch Horns themselves sounded [mellower]. also the "little" Vandersteen 1Ci which sounded totally mellow in the dealer’s humongous listening room [bigger than some little houses] but terrible [honky due to their crossover, i was told] in my tiny 14’ listening space. those pups need lots of space to sound as they were designed to sound. the tiny Thiel cs.5s that replaced ’em sound fantastic in the same small space. the Bose Lifestyle system also needs a big space to sound proper, in little rooms their sound is on the hard metallic side with boomy superficial bass. in the dealer’s humongous listening room [notice a trend?] their sound opened up, mellowed out and the bass bloomed and straightened out.

Anybody remember Speaker Lab? They made DIY speaker kits. Their top-of-the-line model was called the Model K. It was a giant corner horn speaker modeled after the Klipshorn. A buddy of mine had four of them, one in each corner of his 10x12 bedroom and driven by a Phase Linear 400 watt amp. I don’t know if they were fatiguing or not. I couldn’t stand to stay in there long enough to find out. If the room is rockin’, don’t bother knockin’.

Speakerlab used to be here in the Roosevelt neighborhood of Seattle. Back then Speakerlab, Hawthorne, Magnolia and Definitive were all on the same street well within a hundred yards of each other. From DIY and quality budget to mid- and high-end we had it all within easy walking distance. Those were the days!  

The crazy part was that on any given trip it was a toss-up who would have the best most engaging system. Speakerlab was generally the biggest bang for the buck, but not always, especially not if you like to listen deep into the recording. But they were good, and loud, and had some cool ideas like mounting a sub in a floor or wall, turning the whole room into a speaker baffle and generating some pretty darn deep powerful bass in the process!  

Their space is still there with the same blue awning, just no more Speakerlab. Magnolia too is gone. Only Hawthorne, with it's eclectic mix of new and used turntables and systems geared to millennials listening to small systems in dual use rooms and apartments. Definitive is a ghost operation, specializing in Microserf and Goolag millionaires who would rather pay a so-called advisor expert than have to actually learn a thing or two about anything, let alone learn to (shudder!) listen. 

A very sad situation. Years ago before Stewart Marcantoni retired he seemed to specialize in replacing complete six figure systems these guys had bought only to learn the hard way that Levinson and Wilson are unlistenable. Stewart told me at one point he sold 6 complete six figure systems to customers who replaced entirely everything they had bought from Definitive. In one month. 

Don't know what happened to Speakerlab. Or Magnolia either, for that matter. On any given trip you were more likely to find good speakers at either of those than at Definitive. Another one to throw on the pile of things I will probably never understand.