I completely understand what you mean, as I have had speakers which, without being necessarily too bright, were too exciting and in your face for long term listening (they were called Dynaudio Excite after all! 
) Back then I had only demoed speakers at the dealer’s room, which is a mistake that I will not be repeating any time soon.
I recently went through the process of auditioning several speakers, and have documented my experience in this thread:
It’s a bit of a long read and of course our hearing and rooms are different, so I will not make any speaker suggestions. But feel free to have a read.