Analytical or Musical Which way to go?

Gregadd, funny that you mentioned John Atkinson's article because I was about to mention it when you asked whether measurements can predict colorations. What I was going to mention was in Part 3 of the article, though. Some of his conclusions:

"What Makes a Good-Sounding Loudspeaker?

"Vance Dickason offers some discussion of this question, but the definitive answers are to be found in Floyd Toole's comprehensive 1986 papers. Nothing that I can conclude from my past eight years' work, at least when it comes to conventional forward-firing, moving-coil designs, is in serious conflict with his findings. As I wrote in 1991, 'The best-sounding loudspeakers, in my opinion, combine a flat on-axis midrange and treble with an absence of resonant colorations, a well-controlled high-frequency dispersion, excellent imaging precision, an optimally tuned bass, and also play loud and clean without obtrusive compression'."

And

"Most important, while measurements can tell you how a loudspeaker sounds, they can't tell you how good it is. If you carefully look at a complete set of measurements, you can actually work out a reasonably accurate prediction of how a loudspeaker will sound. However, the measured performance will not tell you if it's a good speaker or a great speaker, or if it's a good speaker or a rather boring-sounding speaker. To assess quality, the educated ear is still the only reliable judge."

http://www.stereophile.com/content/measuring-loudspeakers-part-three-page-9

A neutral speaker should not sound neutral. I would not want to be in the position of arguing that speakers that don't measure well are preferable. As Atmassphere pointed out, if a speker sounds good but measures poorly you are measuring the wrong thing.
I am a criminal defese attorney . When DNA testing first appeared I was against it because the sample size was way to small to apply it to the general population. That of course has changed.
Dr. Olive concedes that the results of his test (sample size)is too small to extrapolate it to the general population. Morever saying young people and audiophiles have the same preferences is not only wrong IMO but is not supported by any evidence that I am aware of it. The majority of those who heard speaker that measured well seemed to prefer them over speakers that measured less well. The good news is that as far as I know the test are ongoing. It is likely one day he will have a large enough sample with a proper demographic. Testing students on a high school field trip is hardly a scientific sample.

Drew Echardt- I heard the Orion at RMAF 2010. I liked them and found them to be very smooth.

"While the small sample size of listeners does notallow us to make generalizations to larger populations, nonetheless it is reassuring to find that both the American and Japanese students, regardless of their critical listening experience, recognized good sound when they heard it, and preferred it to the lower quality options. "

Dr Sean Olive

How can you debate 'taste' preferences? It does make for a lively discussion, but as I first heard from my Dad...'There is no accounting for tastes'. But again, it does make for a fun discussion.

WHen you are dealng with marketing, you want to make products that customers will buy. No one wants to make what they think is a great speker and have it sit on the shelf.

Harman IMO has gone full circle. They not only think they make the best speaker. They attempt to replace your idea of what the best speaker is.
This may work on a focus group at the Harman factory, let's watch to see if it translates to the market place.

I drove a Mercedes with Harmon Kardon system. I was bored and certainly would not have purchased but for the fact it was OEM. That's just me.