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Should a reference speaker be neutral, or just great sounding?

I was thinking about something as I was typing about how I've observed a magazine behave, and it occurred to me that I have a personal bias not everyone may agree to.  Here's what I think:
"To call a speaker a reference product it should at the very least be objectively neutral."

However, as that magazine points out, many great speakers are idiosyncratic ideas about what music should sound like in the home, regardless of being tonally neutral.

Do you agree?  If a speaker is a "reference" product, do you expect it to be neutral, or do you think it has to perform exceptionally well, but not necessarily this way?
erik_squires
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,672 posts
 
Reference is something that you make comparisons to, a standard.  So, logically, it can be anything as long as it is constant.

For me, a personal reference should be as neutral as possible but I see no reason why others should not have a different standard, if they choose.
limomangus's avatar
limomangus
1,418 posts
 
I feel you have monitor speakers which just produce the music in the studio .But Reference should be you.....r go to speakers that give you the highs ,the mids and the lows that make you happy...
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,821 posts
 
Since all tastes are different and all speakers are compromises (due to the tastes of the individual who designed them), I go with the one(s) that sound great to me.

All the best,
Nonoise
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,118 posts
 
Practically reference with this stuff is a pretty useless term though it is good for everyone to know their own personal reference when they hear it otherwise one may flounder chasing unknowns.
kenjit
1,771 posts
 
It seems that you are having trouble achieving neutral sound Erik Squires. Hopefully you will now concede that the SNR1 arent really reference speakers after all. Neutrality is indeed not easy to achieve. 
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