Who says studio monitors are "cold and analytical"?


Who says studio monitors are "cold and analytical"?  Does that mean audiophile speakers are warm/colored and distorted?   If Studio Monitors main goal is low distortion, does that mean low distortion is not something audiophiles want?  They want what, high distortion?  "Pretty" sounding distortion?  Or find pretty sounding speakers that make bad recordings sound really good?  What is the point of searching out good recordings then?  They won't sound as intended on a highly colored distorted speaker!   

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There is no "tuning" of loudspeakers in any factory I have ever seen or been aware of.  There is some engineering that happens long before the speaker is built, and the choices the design engineer makes could possibly be considered "tuning"- how wide a bandwidth, what driver elements, ported or sealed box, etc. But certainly not in an adjustable way other than some small crossover tweaks are possible after assembly.   So this notion a company "tunes" for a market is BS.  Especially the idea audiophile speakers have a specific curve or studio monitors have a curve or this goofy idea of a BBC dip.   This is all made up crap people use to explain things they don't understand or a marketing person uses to promote a brand. 

Every speaker in existence has been tuned by the designer. Just like a piano needs to be tuned a speaker needs to be tuned also. What this involves is trying out different crossover topologies. You might do a fourth order or a 2nd order. You might aim for a flat response or a U shaped curve. The possibilities are endless.

Diferent values of capacitors and inductors are then tried to fine tune the sound even more. This is not something that can be measured or calculated. It has to be done by ear until the correct values are found.

The trouble is of course, the sound you get from a speaker depends on the room its placed in and the listeners hearing response. The yamaha ns10s are tuned with a peak in the mids and ZERO bass so sound horrific. Despite this they are regarded as reference speakers by studio professionals. This means the studio Pros dont understand what good sound is. Why would anybody bother using such cheap monitors as a reference? It is bizarre. Audiophile speakers are designed to sound good by people that care about good sound. Studio monitors are designed to sound bad so that mix engineers are forced to mix their recordings to sound as good as it can through these bad speakers. The theory is that these recordings will then sound good on everything. It is a bunch of hogwash and BS.

Most studio monitors are rubbish for enjoyment. Both audiophiles and studio Pros agree on that at least. There are some speakers such as B&W nautilus that are marketed as both audiophile and studio speakers hence they are used by both sides of the market.