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

In general french speakers, Cabasse, Triangle, Focal, Jean-Marie Reynaud are too bright to my ears, it's a pity because they have a lot of other good qualities...

Mario

-Zu dirty weekends mk ii are really good in my setup except one aspect. Made them better with clarity cap upgrade (smoother upper end) and with snubbers taking them from a 12 ohm load to about 8 ohms BUT they just lack low bass.  They play low bass, and very tuneful, but doesn't move air.
-Vandersteen Model 3's-  Don't sound bad, but don't have the detail or imaging of the zu's, but have the low end covered beautifully.  Still have both not sure which I like/where to go next.  If I could find a speaker that has the zu voicing with vandersteen bass, game over. 
-Tried a pair of Rel T/9 and could not get them to blend with Zu's.  Good product but the zu's low excurtion rate is tough to "match" with high excursion Rels.  Timing issues I believe. 
Not satisfied as of now with either but this hobby has no endgame I'm learning!

It is not the speakers that lack bass it is probably the room acoustic

while you may be correct, I cannot spend 19K on speakers that don’t sound right during an audition, and then HOPE I can make them sound better in my home.

It’s possible I’m expecting too much. But, I would expect that the dealer would have done something to make those sound as best they can, given their price point - these aren’t cheap speakers.

For main floor standing speakers, the SVS Ultra Tower, it sounded just OK, but could not handle any real power without distortion.   For subs, the worst of the lot were any of the SVS subs I tried; mud, pure mud.   The next worst sub was a Paradyme Prestige 2000SW, it had the same basic out of musical tune as the SVS only with a LOT more power, so it was MUD squared which shook the dishes in the kitchen with a lot of non descript noise.  I preferred to have no sub at all to letting that one play.   It was on loan from a local shop and I used it only one day before it went back along with the SVS Ultra 16 sub, which too was terrible.
They lent me a pair of Bryston Middle T main speakers to try out, WOW!   I mean these just sang in my place.  I ended up stepping up to the Bryston Model T's which were Wow on steroids, especially with the PX1 external heavy duty, no holds barred crossovers with massive air core inductors.   I have yet to hear any speakers at any shop which sounds better than my Bryston's.   Now using a Bryston Model T triple woofer sub and two other Axiom Audio subs, one with a single 12 inch driver and the other with dual 12 inch drivers; both with the same amps as the Bryston.  I don't plan on ever changing any of these speakers; in fact I had Axiom custom build me beautiful center speaker using matching drivers for the Bryston's in black and a knotty pine cabinet.

Every Tekton that I have heard after the Double Impact.

The Double Impact, for it’s price when it came out was/is a solid rock and party speaker. Fun, fast, good bass. Sure, the cabinets are borderline, and they have a fair amount of resonance. But at 3k (I think 2500 when introduced maybe?) - it was competitive.

The DISE - $2500 more, didn’t hear much if any difference from the DI. (I do see it’s down to 4k recently). Still not sure I would drop that extra 1k.

Double Impact Monitor - ah, might as well pay the 1k to get the DI.

Anything with the BE tweeters - pushing bright for me when I have heard them.

The Ulf’s and MOAB’s... honestly I just didn’t hear much more out of them then I did the Double Impact. Same sound, maybe a little more of it, same OK cabinet, paint job etc. At those price points, would be nice to have more bracing, a decent grill, and an option of veneer over the rattle can paint. (half kidding, it’s better than rattle can, but it’s not great, nor based on a friends pair - durable).

So from a disappointment standpoint - Tekton, as a line-up was disappointing to me, with one notable exception - the original DI. It’s not perfect, but no 3k speaker is. It’s a definite one to look at in that price range (but you have to get by the cabinets, so-so build quality etc). But, if I were going to do a party room/bar/big gym - heck yes they are on my list. If I were in college... I would scratch and claw to find 2k to buy a used pair.

But I would not consider any other speaker in their line-up. I also understand the caveats of customer service with Tekton. So, that is a part of it.

Others that disappointed - Focal, anytime I’ve heard them, that damn tweeter just has to be the star of the show. I did hear a pair of Sopra 2’s with a rogue tube-amp. That helped a lot, but the bass sucked then.

The Paradigm Persona ear bleed inducing line-up... too bright. (though, if your hearing has faded, or you have legit hearing damage) and you listen at low to moderate levels I could understand someone looking at these. They are at least coherant from top to bottom (something I just didn’t find with Focal). But if you like to listen remotely loud... not sure I would consider the Persona’s (maybe the big boys since the bass is powered and you could run tubes in the pre-amp, and possibly even the amp to smooth those suckers out).

Oh, Zu audio. Had a pair in the house. Love the company attitude, the speaker look, the USA build... but nope couldn’t stand them as speakers. (they were great about refunds etc)