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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
kenjit
1,771 posts
 
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. 
atdavid OP
736 posts
 
This is why I specifically stated on-axis anechoic response as opposed to integrated energy response or something similar.
audiokinesis
2,737 posts
 
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
kenjit
1,771 posts
 
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
kenjit
1,771 posts
 
Toole conducted extensive double-blind listening tests and found that most listeners prefer a gently downward-sloping response trend,
what was the explanation?
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