@inna
That’s a rare sentiment in audiophile circles on speaker enclosures, and one that I sympathize with. The obvious and typical answer to this stance often concerns how speakers aren’t meant to act like instruments themselves, but have to be transparent (i.e. rigid, highly damped, heavy) in how they’re build to more accurately give way to what’s embedded on the recording. That’s an understandable position, but one that in actuality tends to be less favorably implemented. One of the reasons for this seems to be not working with the invariable contribution of the enclosure that persists despite elaborate efforts into damping via rigid and heavy build, or as Alan Shaw of Harbeth puts it:
https://youtu.be/Ja9BJn0lMxI?t=1403
Mr. Shaw may not embrace working with enclosures as "instruments" as such, but he's highly aware of their contribution no matter what, and has a rare knack for knowing about the importance of timbre and the authentic reproduction of voices.
And so, working with the sonic contribution of the cabinets not only tells you about the knowledge of this area, but also of an awareness more holistically into tuning the sound of the speakers. Excessively stuffing the speakers can also prove problematic as it tends to deaden the sound somewhat, leading some (although few) to even refrain from stuffing. It’s symptomatic of "audiophilia" in general, I find; damping, damping, damping - killing resonances and other misbehaviors to such a degree that it potentially leads to killing the overall life and energy of the sound and music.
... I don’t want stuffed speakers or excessively braced speakers, I want them to move and breath.
That’s a rare sentiment in audiophile circles on speaker enclosures, and one that I sympathize with. The obvious and typical answer to this stance often concerns how speakers aren’t meant to act like instruments themselves, but have to be transparent (i.e. rigid, highly damped, heavy) in how they’re build to more accurately give way to what’s embedded on the recording. That’s an understandable position, but one that in actuality tends to be less favorably implemented. One of the reasons for this seems to be not working with the invariable contribution of the enclosure that persists despite elaborate efforts into damping via rigid and heavy build, or as Alan Shaw of Harbeth puts it:
https://youtu.be/Ja9BJn0lMxI?t=1403
Mr. Shaw may not embrace working with enclosures as "instruments" as such, but he's highly aware of their contribution no matter what, and has a rare knack for knowing about the importance of timbre and the authentic reproduction of voices.
And so, working with the sonic contribution of the cabinets not only tells you about the knowledge of this area, but also of an awareness more holistically into tuning the sound of the speakers. Excessively stuffing the speakers can also prove problematic as it tends to deaden the sound somewhat, leading some (although few) to even refrain from stuffing. It’s symptomatic of "audiophilia" in general, I find; damping, damping, damping - killing resonances and other misbehaviors to such a degree that it potentially leads to killing the overall life and energy of the sound and music.
