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

When I was searching for a new pair of speakers I found I couldn't listen to the Wilson's and Magico's for very long, before fatigue set in.

of speakers ive owned: these were somewhat dissapointing
kef ls50
genelec 1037b
Wilson audio cub 2
chartwell ls35a
various tannoys
jbl lsr32

As requested, these are just speakers that lived in my home. I've plenty of opinions on metal domed and diamond tweeters as well as horns in general (and that's ignoring brands that never did it for me).


Genesis II+  (1978, not the known Genesis co.) first speaker, still have.
McIntosh XR-240 (early 90s) so-so, poor choice, traded for 2.5i's.
NHT 2.5i  mid-fi (used with other NHT's 1.5's, 1.3's) for video purposes.
Martin Logan SL3   (1995-2011 main audio) picky but good, still have.
Thiel 2.4s     very nice, not so dry (had my brother's pair 6mos).
B&W DM-302   (2000) tad bright, a gem at $199/pr, still have.
Dynaudio Sapphire (2012-2016) replaced SL3 as 2 channel, traded.
Dynaudio Excite X-12   (2014-2016) nice with small R.E.L, traded.
Scansonic MB2.5   (2015-2016) fabulous, w/sub even better, traded.
Raidho D2   (2016-present)  Possible last speakers. Stunningly beautiful sound,   aided by DSP and R.E.L. B1 sub rarely (if desired, not needed).

Pretty much any Klipsch for me. Yes, even the Klipschorn.

At every price point, there are speakers that are more accurate, more detailed, better imaging. The Klipsch's good dynamics are not nearly enough for me to overlook everything else they don't do well.

Back at the beginning of the summer, my cousin had a new pair of Hersey IV that he loaned to me while he was out of town. I had them for almost a month.

At first, I was taken in by their excitement and dynamics. But it didn't take long for all their warts to take over.

I noticed one major speaker brand that has not been mentioned in this thread of infamy and that is Sonus Faber.  I have only heard them twice in stores but they sounded very good to me in the store.  I also like Wilson speakers.  I have heard Wilson speakers in someone’s home and I liked the sound. True story:  I had a work buddy in the late 80s who had Thiel 2 2s with Spectral gear.  They sounded very good.  I was using planars at the time and his Thiels were the first box speaker that didn’t sound like a box to me. 13 years passed before I bought my first Thiel speakers and I bought them used because every time I auditioned them in a store they were too bright, strident and sometimes I thought they would drill a hole in my head.   I wanted something more dynamic than planars but I couldn’t find the right speaker.  Based on my buddy’s system I finally bought some used CS3.6s to try.  It took a couple of amp and cable changes but they finally made me very happy.  A few years later I got the CS6’s.  No fatigue issues here but they are finicky about source components and cables.