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Bright High End Speakers = Bad Room?

Long time lurker, new poster and diving right in.
I have noticed on the threads, a lot of what are considered high spend speakers, high end B&W's particularly, but not exclusively, being faulted for being "bright", a viewpoint typically garnered from "heard them at a show", etc.
I would posit that the reason this is, not exclusively of course, but in many cases, is due to a conscious decision in how these speaker companies balance on/off axis energy  (or an unconscious decision due to the space they were voiced in).

Whether it is assumed you are going to have more off-axis energy due to reflection/diffusion and/or assumed you are going to have less off axis energy due to absorption, if you don't implement your room accordingly, you are going to find the speaker bright or dark versus a speaker, even a low end one, that is voiced in a room more like the typical partially or poorly treated room.
Thoughts?


atdavid
audiokinesis
2,738 posts
 
Kenjit quoted me: "But there was one group who consistently preferred a flat response: Recording engineers. To them, speakers are a tool, and in general the more revealing the better. "

And then he asked: "Do you have a link to the study that mentions this? Thanks" 

I thought it was in the third edition of his book but I just skimmed all of the chapters that seemed promising and couldn’t find it. Nor is the index helpful. If I can find my copy of the first edition I’ll look there. My recollection is that Toole was the source, if/when I come across it I’ll let you know. 

When I have been asked to design custom studio monitors by the acoustician who designed the studio, he has specified "flat on-axis response" as the target. 

Duke
gosta's avatar
gosta
839 posts
 
I often get the impression that a good deal of the members on this forum appreciate to be fooled by a speaker being non-bright on bright recordings, that is quite rolled-off in the highs. They seem to call it musical. And name other speakers more true to the recording bright. Then there are speakers that are more bright than they actually should be, which may be fine as a working tool identifying problems in a recording. The end result of course a lot depending on the room and the listening distance. 
gdaddy1
135 posts
 
Speakers that are very 'revealing' are often considered to be bright. 'Bright' speakers have become something to fear and avoid. I refer to many of them as 'clear'. Padding a speaker down in an effort to flat line on a chart can/will soften the sound by removing detail. High end audio is high resolution. If the speaker is capable of sounding natural at a high resolution then I find it to be wonderful clarity. Why remove detail that you've worked so hard to attain? However, it will be critical of poorly made recordings. Over processed music out of a high resolution speaker can and will sound edgy. Good recordings are amazingly clear and sound incredible when done right. 

Good quality headphones are extremely clear. I began use them as a baseline for the clarity of my speakers. This put me on the 'bright side' of neutral and I much prefer it.
gosta's avatar
gosta
839 posts
 
Agreed. Don't want the speakers to do the eq-ing. There are other tools for that where you actually know what is done and only when it's needed.
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
It all come down to enjoyment.  Even if you sit there thinking to yourself, Wow, these speakers are really accurate, how wonderful!, if you cringe and shudder even time the massed violins come in forte, then there's not much point to it, is there?  In music, emotional enjoyment > intellectual enjoyment.
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