My pet peeve: "revealing" speakers

Sounds like you have a semantics problem specifically associated with speakers YOU don’t like. What is YOUR suggestion for the correct wording to use in order to describe undefined speakers you probably won’t like?

You miss the point completely...

I dont speak about speakers i dont like.... I try to explain a complex situation in the simplest words...

Contrary to your misconception, almost all speakers can sound good rightfully embed in the house and room if they are paired with the right amplifier and dac...

Most speakers that sound bad are badly linked to the wrong piece of equipment for them and/or wrongly embed in their mechanical, electrical, and acoustical dimensions ...(except for some badly designed speakers for sure)

Now there is almost no speakers rightly designed i will not like AFTER embedding them and AFTER pairing them with a good dac and amp.(Even if i had my preference like everybody for the best quality speakers)

Liking some branded speakers is not like liking and tasting a brand of cheese....You must know how to use and embed the speakers, and then you must know how to deal with the resolving power and revealing power balance of the speakers in specific house /room/positions.


If the speakers is a stick, it has 2 ends, he resolve at one end and reveal at the other end.... :)

Or more simply put: Speakers, room and ears are only one organ......

twoleftearsRevealing = equivalent of cranking up the sharpness control on your TV.

Very good analogy.  As a professional photographer, I always have to know when the sharpness added is beneficial and when it is too much.  Knowing the same in audio is more difficult, since I react faster through my eyes than through my ears. 

erik_squires OP9,458 posts08-22-2020 1:32pmPS: My second pet peeve are reviewers who hear "revealing" and very colored speakers and call them "neutral" when they are clearly not.

If they are revealing? Sounds like they are revealing all the coloration the rest of your system is having a problem with. That is... if they are truly revealing.

I think what you describe about speakers also applies to live music in a concert hall or an opera house. The sound is colored by differences in acoustics in different seats, how many people are seated near you, and how absorptive the clothes they and you are wearing. Because you can only so much do far worrying about the ideal frequency response and imagining which is limited by the size of each group of instruments, the same is true for the pursuit of neutrality in speakers. The advice of choosing the sound you prefer is therefore more sound.I spent a couple of months more than a couple of years ago getting my Magnepan 0.7's the way I wanted. I also wasted time trying to get a subwoofer to work with Magnepans and it can't be done. Subwoofers draw either draw attention to themselves or the make no difference in the sound with Magnepns. A pair of DWM's is the only way to balance the lower frequencies to sound natural, something easy for me to do because I series wired each of the two elements in each DWM giving them an impedance of 8 Ohms. It was a simple matter to take the 4 Ohm outputs of the Hammond 1642SE transformer for the 0.7's and the 8 to 16 Ohm taps in phase for the DWM's. Of course it takes radio station transmitter triodes to power insensitive Magnepans but that is a different subject.

What is YOUR suggestion for the correct wording to use in order to describe undefined speakers you probably won't like?

So many putting words in my mouth.  Let me try to clarify.  Usually, when I read "revealing" the reviewer treats this without a down side. I'll give you a great, precise example.

The modern Dali speakers have a raised treble profile.  That's not opinion, that's measurement, and they treble runs significantly hotter. Now, it would be fine to call it "revealing."  In a sense, these are ideal low volume speakers as they will "reveal" more treble ant lower listening levels than another speaker, and if you like that (I do not) then that's a great match. However, if I were to review them I'd put that out there.  They are going to be better at low volumes than high volumes, but the average reviewer will just go nuts over the hot treble, say they've never heard such detail in their records, blah blah, without addressing the downside.

Again, these may be ideal for you, your hearing, your paper thin walls, whatever.  It is the use of "revealing" to call out something that is not neutral without further explanation.

Best,

E