Ears hurt when listening after changing speakers

You have switched to a speaker that is too forward for your ears.
Tweaking with cables may help but my guess is you will dump
the Rockys in favor of a more polite sound. Nothing wrong with that.
Hypercusis, Tinnitus and other issues may be contributing factors but in the end you can still enjoy music with the right speakers at the right volume for your ears. 

I wonder if others have also experienced this.

Over the years, as I progressively improved my system, it seems I progressively listened at lower volumes. I still play WAR, RARE EARTH, ... loud, but not 'generally' as loud.

Perhaps these speakers are a step back, and slightly louder volumes are needed to hear the mids/imaging as prior speakers produced them, IOW something subtly different.

reduction in spl vs seating distance is almost perfectly linear with panel speakers and is almost exponential with point source speakers.

Huh? How can that possibly be? Have you actually measured this? Also, there are panel speakers that are also point sources, so how does that factor into your equation?

I think he's referring to power response.  And for LS vs PS yep, its very different.  Neither ought to be linear however

Hard to pin down as many have posted.  Since your ROOM is the most important element of any listening situation, maybe get it measured for frequency response vs all those speakers.  Maggies typically do not cause any listening fatigue unless you are using poor electronics, which it does not seem you are, so that is what I would suggest to any customer.

Also, I would wonder why they switched out of Maggies.  Maybe bigger Maggies or a subwoofer or two if you are missing the pounding bass from either modern or orchestral music?  Just a thought.  Seems like you have a good dealer, so keep at it and you will figure it out. 

Personally, I see little gain in ANY variable from switching out of Maggies, but that is just me, I guess--and the other people who keep them forever like I do.  Just can' find anything better IN MY ROOM, of course!

Cheers!