TOTAL_OBJECTS - Warning!

Hi,

As i'm working on my site optimization with an objective of reducing the pageload time from current 11-14 seconds to below 8 seconds.

http://analyze.websiteoptimization.com/ gives me total objects warning & also total requests is also very high

TOTAL_OBJECTS - Warning! The total number of objects on this page is 423 which by their number will dominate web page delay. Consider reducing this to a more reasonable number. Above 20 objects per page the overhead from dealing with the actual objects (description time and wait time) accounts for more than 80% of whole page latency.
Consider using CSS sprites to help consolidate decorative images. Using CSS techniques such as colored backgrounds, borders, or spacing instead of graphic techniques can reduce HTTP requests. Replace graphic text headers with CSS text headers to further reduce HTTP requests. Finally, consider optimizing parallel downloads by using different hostnames or a CDN to reduce object overhead.

The major worrying stats for my site are:
Total HTTP Requests: 423
Total CSS Images: 365
Total Images: 395

most of these objects are icons (css images)
/media/com_easysocial/images/icons/icons-jar/web_standard_right_sidebar.png
/media/com_easysocial/images/icons/icons-jar/macbook_wifi.png
.. and so on

is there anyway i can remove these pngs from the css? as i believe easysocial is using icon fonts.

regards