Fatigue reducing interconnect?

As the Michigan economy has been rough on the restaurant biz (and a large percentage of responses have dealt with speaker placement) I began to experiment with what I have rather than spend more. I found that by toeing the Energy's out a bit-they are actually straight, but seem toed out after previous positioning-the harsh highs have largely disappeared. Sound is still alive and detailed, but not irritating. The other thing I did was to play the system almost continuously over the past 3 days, as I began to read about IC/cable break in. While the other components were seasoned, the wires were new and had less than 50 hours at the time of my post. Not sure which variable (or both) had the effect, but the sound has much improved. Thanks for your suggestions--I have learned much.....

Contact the Cable Company and ask their advice. I have found them to have some good suggestions, and you can try the cables before you buy.

http://www.thecableco.com/contact_us.php

Try TMC white label interconnects. If those won't fix it, try another amp. I've never heard an A5, but I just recently bought an MF A300, and it's quite fatigueing, for me, and none of my cables fixed it. It's just sitting, unused, in the garage, for now.

I've always found "listener fatigue" to come more from components, and not cables. Cables can either mask problems, or pass them through.

Chances are, you'll never totally cure your problem with just IC's. You'll probably be able to mask it, to a point, but most likely only for certain recordings.

Good luck.

Glad to hear you are making progress.

I have listened to these electronics in systems with slightly warm to boarder line bright speakers for hours without fatigue. I agree with Rooski about the impact of wires in general to a point, but I have also used wires to tame systems that had certain strengths and other weaknesses to play more to the former. Furthermore, I would not exactly call the Energy speakers "warm", so there may be a synergy at work with your gear that you will have to work at to overcome.

Three suggestions, one already made by me one new one, and adding to the chorus of others.

First the new one: what are you using for power cables for the amp and CDP? I have found this can have a big impact on sound, affecting clarity and for lack of a better word, the flow of the music, relaxing the overall presentation. Especially if you are going from the stock cord to a larger gauge and well made aftermarket wire. You can get cheap and well made power cables from Internet dealers like Zebra Cable, Signal and others to dip your toe in this world if you haven't already.

Second, if you eventually start Jonesing for new cables, contact The Cable Company, they can provide advice about both interconnects and power cables that can help you achieve your system tuning goals.

Three, as suggested by others above: further adjusting the position of your speakers in the room, playing with toe in/out, distance from each other, the walls and your seating position, angle of repose or height can do wonders. After room shape and materials, this is probably the single most important aspect of your stereo system. Then equipment, and last of all wires. Besides all that, this tweak is free as you noted yourself!

After more experimentation with speaker placement/room changes, I have concluded that good recordings (James Taylor's 'October Road', Chris Botti's 'Italia') sound great and poor/bright ones (Boney James' 'Sweet Thing', Earth, Wind, and Fire's 'Vol.1') sound harsh and fatiguing--regardless of how the room is arranged. I assume this is simply the result of a revealing system "doing its job". While there are much more costly electronics and speakers than mine (which I surely will aspire to later in my journey), am I to assume they make poor recordings sound better? If not, it seems, purchasing quality recordings is as important as anything that follows. Also, it has been suggested to me that using digital cables will help reduce high frequency harshness while maintaining the overall sound quality. Seemed odd to hear, but has anyone experimented with this?