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Causes of long term listening fatigue?

I like to listen to music continuously for hours mostly at low volume levels. For me therefore, it is important to have a setup that will not cause any listening fatigue (lf).

Now I am looking for a new speaker setup and I wonder whether people could comment on the following aspects:
1. is 5-ch more susceptible to lf than 2-ch?
2. are there quick tests so that one can determine whether a given speaker will tend to give lf? I ask this because in a shop it will be difficult to assess this due to lack of time and differences in acoustic environment.
3. Which speakers do you know in the price class $3k that do have lf problems and which ones can be recommended in this respect? (difficult question, I know).

Thanks for input.
Regards,
karman
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
I'm a bit more simple minded than the other respondants.

The only way I ever know if I'll have listening fatigue with a pair of speakers is to buy them and live with them in my system.

If I can read a good book for hours while sitting in front of them, they're keepers!
prpixel
876 posts
 
I'm with Gunbei. If I feel compelled to sit in front of the stereo and read then all is right in my little world. However, if I've changed something and thrown the system out of wack, then the only time I feel compelled to go into the listening room is to vacuum and dust.

Elizabeth, excercising the sarcasm muscles again? LOL

Later,
jig
160 posts
 
I had a very mellow sounding system (read uninvolving) and finally decided to upgrade the speakers. I have tried to tame the highs for the past 2 years because these speakers brought a lot of new things to the listening experience. One of these new things turned out to be listener fatigue. Not to question a POPE or anybody of that level, but a speaker can definitely cause fatigue when hitched up to a less than synergistic setup. This hobby is all about synergy and as a DIY'er, I can tell you that changing a tweeter resistor value by as little as 1 ohm can make a system go from just right to bright. Just my 2 cents
newbee
4,768 posts
 
Wouldn't it be nice if we had some idea what Karman's electronics, including sources, were? Might also be nice to know what, if anything he has done about set up and taming reflections. Ditto room size. With that info we might be able to give his some useful advise. At this juncture his listening fatigue could be caused by anything in the chain.

Karman, care to enlighten us?
valinar
473 posts
 
What kind(s) of music are you listening to? If you are listening to music for hours on end at low volumes I suggest that you will not make great gains in overcoming your fatigue by simply making changes to your system, however great or small. I listen to various genres of music; rock, jazz, and classical to name the basics. And yet there are various subgroups in each genre, some quite busy and forward, others simple and laid back. Mix it up. Sometimes you need a little decaf in the midst of the double shot expressos.
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