Your favorite musical non fatiguing speakers?

In the last 20 or 25 years, it has certainly not been a huge priority of high end to get extremely loud playback at low distortion levels. Producers have been fixated on imaging, pretty female vocals, lots of deep bass, and maybe above all "high definition" or lots of detail, because reviewers and audiophiles fixated on that stuff, especially the detail.

I can't completely agree with this. I have heard Wilson Alexandria X-2s and XLFs that definitely reproduce the full dynamic range of a big band or 100-piece orchestra at close range without distracting distortion, and I'm confident that top line products from Magic, Focal Utopia, and others can achieve the same sensation.

That's what the big bucks should buy you--range, both frequency response and dynamic range. Many speakers can recreate solo acoustic guitar or voice realistically for $2K or less. The air gets rarified when you look for a speaker that presents the same sense of reality for an orchestral/choral reproduction of a Mahler symphony, Holst's "The Planets" or Mendelssohn's "Elijah," or of the Ellington or Basie big bands in full swing from the front row. I've gotten that sensation from the Wilson Alexandrias and I'm sure others here have experienced (or own) this sensation from other fine full-range loudspeakers properly amplified.

Judyazblues wrote,

"Because that elevated distortion, let's say .01% for argument's sake, might not outweigh the higher SPL experience for any particular listener."

If it were only .01% I wouldn't have brought it up. I'd estimate the "perceived distortion" to be around 5%, maybe more. I suspect we are so used to the distortion we don't flinch, maybe just a little.

Ascribing listener fatigue to high level sound is like saying poking yourself in the eye causes eye pain. Really...bright speakers, bright recordings, harsh recordings...blah blah...clearly these things are gonna get you buggin'. I bought my Silverlines after listening to a friend's pair and reading reviews that pointed out the lack of shrill sizzle from the metal tweets, and that made sense. What also makes sense for me is using a tube amp placed after clean preampage as tubes clip more pleasantly (I don't crank the things to serious distortion anyway, except tube guitar amps which are the tone standard) and simply sound more friendly for my earballs. Room reflection isn't generally the culprit unless you have a rig in your prison cell, which is unlikely...note that padded cells for the mentally unstable are MUCH better sounding than conventional cement, although it can be harder to adjust the levels wearing a straight jacket...

For what it's worth I'm not really referring to listener fatigue. I'm referring to the gross distortion one hears *immediately* in any system, regardless of price, when the volume is pushed up past an average normal level. I.e., the kind of distortion that would drive most people out of the room. I'm not referring to the distortion inherent in components or speakers, distortion due to electronics or speakers not having been broken in, or even comb filter effects. Come on, don't tell me I'm the only one who hears this distortion.

You are the only one who hears this distortion.