Bright High End Speakers = Bad Room?

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. 

This is why I specifically stated on-axis anechoic response as opposed to integrated energy response or something similar.

Kenjit wrote: "a ruler flat response... is too bright for most folk." 

Floyd Toole, Bruel & Kjaer, and I all agree with Kenjit on that point.

Atdavid wrote: "I do not think overall that most people consider a ruler flat response too bright."

Toole conducted extensive double-blind listening tests and found that most listeners prefer a gently downward-sloping response trend, both for the first-arrival sound and for the early reflections. Most people perceive a "flat" response to be "bright", and a gently-downward-sloping response to be "flat".

But there was one group who consistently preferred a flat response: Recording engineers. To them, speakers are a tool, and in general the more revealing the better. 

Toole did find that, when listening strictly for pleasure, many recording engineers prefer the gently-downward-sloping trend. 

Microphone manufacturer Bruel and Kjaer identified this gently downward-sloping response as being desirable long before Toole confirmed it.

Duke

But there was one group who consistently preferred a flat response: Recording engineers. To them, speakers are a tool, and in general the more revealing the better.  

Do you have a link to the study that mentions this? Thanks