I am not sure how me pointing out to what I hear as harshness and grain (Plus hollowness, lack of body, artificial upper midrange and lumpy bass) will make you hear it as well. Obviously, you purchase these speakers cause you liked the way they sound. I have said, time and again, that the WP sounds to me exactly like they measure. They always did. Way before I saw any measurements on them. I would also argue, that to an experience listener, it makes more sense for any speaker to sound more like it measure then not. Perhaps, in a way of comparison, once you hear a better implemented design, you will hear what I am talking about. Then again, perhaps not. WP8 have many audible issues that can be measured and explained. I happened to hear most of these issues when I listen to them. Telling me that all these issues, that are clearly visible in the data measured by different sources, are not audible is not a serious argument. Perhaps you do not hear them. But I sure do.
Pointing it out will allow me to analyze whether or not what you heard was really due to break-up modes or something else. I am more than qualified to be able to listen for these kinds of issues. I've taken David Moulton's Golden Ears courses. I can hear the general shape of the frequency response. I know what distortion sounds like and I can hear it, as that was part of the training course as well. I know what phase issues sound like, as well as differing levels of compression (etc, etc... For a full list of things I have learned how to hear look up the Golden Ears course outline). I have excellent hearing for my age (I was tested around two years ago by an Otolaryngologist).
Of course, all these other issues concerning the frequency response, aren't what our argument was about. Our argument is about whether or not the break-up mode on the W/P8 is audible; your last post was full of straw-man arguments. I have things I think are imperfect about my speakers. No speaker is perfect, and all speakers are compromises from a perfect transducer. People also experience stereophonic illusions differently, so that people will subjectively prefer some compromises to others in terms of perceived "realism." Again, these weren't what out argument was about... Our argument was about the audibility of the break-up modes on the W/P8.
Where I take issue, is with people posting about hearing things that are below hearing threshold under realistic human listening conditions. You want to talk about deviations from linearity, deviations from a perfect frequency response, phase issues, and distortion issues, you will find that I won't disagree with issues that exist if they are audible under human listening conditions. All speakers suffer from issues in these measured areas in one form or another to varying degrees. Speakers compromise in some areas in order to be stronger in others. If you turn the volume up enough, every transducer starts failing miserably, it is just the nature of those kinds of physical mechanics.
How can I validate your assertions if you won't show me how you arrived at them in the "real" world so that I can repeat your experiments myself to see if what you heard could be something other than the cause you are ascribing it? So far it seems to me, based on your level of cooperation and my own testing with the type of material you recommended on the W/P8, that the placebo effect can work for people that look at graphs just as easily as it can work for people who believe in other imaginary audio phenomena.
Tell me how you tested and what testing methods you used to prove to yourself that you were hearing actual break-up modes, or at least admit you didn't do any controlled testing and are basing your statements on pure speculation. If you don't supply your testing criteria and material, I'm forced to assume you didn't test at all and are fabricating your statements about hearing break-up modes. Your statements aren't facts unless you back them up with valid testing data and allow others to see if they can find alternate explanations for what you heard... If no alternate explanations can be proven, then you may have proven a fact, but if alternate explanations can be proven true, then it isn't a fact. Your statements seem to suggest that you haven't done any detailed testing and have only done some casual listening, perhaps under less than desirable conditions.
Why are you so resistant to being cooperative? You only stand to be proved correct or to learn something... :(
Thanks.