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
Most speakers aim for a ruler flat reponse which is too bright for most folk. This is why speakers must be custom tuned to the customers ears. You wouldn't walk into a store and buy a pair of shoes in any old size would you? If you did it would probably be too big or small. Speakers that are not custom tuned are likewise too bright more often than not. You can either buy whats available in the market or have a pair custom tuned or modified. 
A ruler flat response on axis only matters in an anechoic chamber and/or listening very close to the speakers. The room response is likely to be much different which is what my post speaks to.
I do not think overall that most people consider a ruler flat response too bright, especially since it is the room response they respond to, not the anechoic measured on-axis.
It would be much easier to "tune" a high end too bright for a user outside of the speaker, whether electronically, or with room treatment and positioning. Cross-over design is tightly tied to phase integration and physical speaker parameters. It would be difficult to tune any given speaker to your tastes without impacting the fine balance of other parameters the speaker vendor was targeting.
especially since it is the room response they respond to, not the anechoic measured on-axis.
The room response is obviously related to the anechoic response.