Non fatigueing speaker under 1500

Now, Now, Audiokinesis, I never said the Aragon amp was dry or edgey or in any way not a good amp, I just said that 200W is not enough power and is probably clipping. SS or tube, you need more power to really drive speakers without distortion and clipping.
If it was me, I would begin looking at upgrading the amp, then listening to my speakers with that amp and then deciding what to do. Do you have a friend that would let you "borrow" their amp(at least 300W, preferably more) just to see what it does in your setup?

-aj

Angela - Assuming Gooddomino were to purchase a 90+db sensitivity speaker, what on God's green earth would he need 300+ wpc for? Since when is 200wpc not "enough" power?

Aren't you the one who's spouting about garbage in, garbage out? If the "quality" of the source component is so important to you, why would the quality of the amplification not be equally important? Do you have any idea how expensive a quality 300+wpc amp would cost?

Please explain your reasoning.

Dan, I am just talking about what may be causing the fatigue is all. And clipping is a real reason and could at least be tested by putting something in the chain that wouldn't do that and see if it "sounds" better. That's all I am suggesting. I am a fan of getting to root cause and I think that you would save money in the long run to find out what is really causing the problem, then buying this and buying that and then buying something else. My intent was to get some thinking about what is really causing the problem, than just jumping to the conclusion it's the speakers. Does that makes sense? -aj

Angela - Makes sense...although I guess the easiest solution would be to turn it down and see if that sounds any better. We don't even know what speakers Gooddomino is driving with his 200wpc. Unless they're grossly inefficient, or he listens at extremely high levels, odds are good that there's no clipping taking place.

While I feel that it's important to find the right speakers for you personally, they're only going to sound as good as your room (and setup) allows. You mention that your room has hardwood floors and little furniture. Once you decide on a pair of speakers, I would strongly consider doing a few simple things to "tune" your room. A couple of rugs in front of (and maybe behind if you buy dipoles) the speakers would be a good start. Maybe a couple of tapestries or other wall hangings in strategic places. Nothing gawdy or expensive, mind you, but simple and tasteful additions that will greatly enhance the listenability of your system.

You haven't told us what speakers you're currently using, so we can't speculate as to whether or not they're known for being too bright or forward. I would hazard to guess, however, that the most likely suspect contributing to your fatigue is the room itself. A very "live" room with a lot of hard surfaces causes sound to reverberate all about the room and arrive back to your ears at various times. It's a lot for your brain to process.

Dan -I owned Vandy 3's for 10 years. They were just too big so I sold them. They also gave me fatigue at higher listening levels and just not enough detail. I then purchased Thiel .5's. Great detail,I heard things I never heard before on my CD's. They just couldn't "jam" and when trying to jam they became fatigueing fast.

I heard that the 2CE Sigs had the 3A's tweeter so they might further reduce fatigue. It looks like I might need to just do the best I can at this price level.

Jack