Oppression within the speaker industry and how it can be stopped?


As we all know, speaker companies have been oppressing us audiophiles for a very long time. The question is how it can be stopped? 

The insistence on ''flat as pancake'' response is only one example of this. Some companies offer a bit of a dip in the mids. But as we all know, if we weren't being oppressed we could CHOOSE whatever response we liked. 

The so called linkwitz riley 24db crossover and variations thereof is an evil device which has been going on for a long time in the speaker business. 

Butterworth 12db vilified as dip at crossover. QB3 BB4 ports. constant directivity. The list goes on and on. 

I have even attended speaker demos where I was prohibited from playing my own choice of music cds that I'd brought along. 

The wicked speaker industry must be stopped before its too late. We must demand maximum freedom of choice before THEY bully us into utter submission.
kenjit
Oppression, Kenjit? I find that insulting and demeaning to groups who have suffered genuine oppression. Perhaps you should rephrase you original post so as not to retraumatize those who have endured genuine suffering. Does this make sense to you? 
For such "oppression" to be a reality, you must have a conspiracy or dominant monolithic power that controls the industry, which is simply the opposite of reality.  With a low barrier to entry into the market, there are hundreds of different companies offering a dizzying array of products.  You could devote your entire life to auditioning current and past models and I bet you would not be able to hear a tenth of what is out there.  And if there were such a "monolith," how can you account for their being so many of the the "evil" designs being employed? The existence of so many different designs is evidence of a complete lack of a controlled industry.  How can someone say there is such a variety of bad speakers and design out there and then say that there is no freedom of choice?
The existence of so many different designs is evidence of a complete lack of a controlled industry.  
When you go to to the opticians you expect glasses that have been TUNED BY HAND to YOUR eyes and your eyes only. You would not find it acceptable if they sold you a pair of glasses with lenses that were close enough for your particular vision, would you now? 

But that is exactly what the speaker industry has done to us and we have blindly accepted it. Harman and the like, have forced us to believe that flat is best. They knew they couldnt sell us custom tuned to our ears speakers because it was a business model that wouldnt work so they took away our rights and began extolling the virtues of flat as pancake designs. 

How do you know you dont need or want custom tuned speakers? Have you ever been given the opportunity to be involved in the tuning process of a crossover? No you probably have not. In which case, you dont know what youre missing. How many audiophiles resort to adjusting the sound of their speakers with changes in positioning, cables, tweaks, and all manner of other devices to no avail? Thats evidence that audiophiles are rarely satisfied with mass produced magicos and wilsons. CUSTOM TUNING IS the only way
The market is not conspiring to deny anyone the custom tailoring you seem to think we all deserve.  It simply is not possible to mass manufacture products, which make them cheaper, AND make them bespoke.  You want custom tailored clothing, you pay through the nose.  If everyone demanded the same for every consumer product, there would not be enough workers or resources in the world to fill that kind of unreasonable demand.  

Also, you CAN get custom designed speakers.  I go to a shop that does just that--people come in and listen and make their preference known and one-of-a-kind speakers are built for them.  The speakers are then installed in the buyer's system an tuned to their liking, which can mean not just speaker placement and adjustment of midrange and tweeter controls, but alternative choices in internal wiring, changes to crossover points and slopes, changes in crossover parts, and even changes in drivers.  No big surprise here, this does not come cheap.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could get all your furniture custom designed to fit your body and aesthetic ideals, to board an airplane that has seats specifically designed just for you?  Let's get real here.  If mass production is "evil" as you say it is, then only the most wealthy would have access to such bespoke consumer products.  How is it a benefit to mankind if audio gear was limited to the top one tenth of one percent of people?
No big surprise here, this does not come cheap.
Neither does a Magico come cheap but theyre not even custom tuned are they? 

If mass production is "evil" as you say it is, then only the most wealthy would have access to such bespoke consumer products.
Oh come on that already is true of high end speakers

How is it a benefit to mankind if audio gear was limited to the top one tenth of one percent of people?

High end audio is already very expensive. Custom tuning does not come into the equation even once you get to these prices. So the argument that it would be too expensive is clearly false. If DIY folks can custom tune their speakers without spending a fortune why cant they? The fact is that its just cheaper and easier to do it the way its done currently. Make one design and then mass produce that design and then sell them to the audiofools. 

You are agreeing that there is a conspiracy by implying that CUSTOM TUNING is indeed desirable but that theres a reason it cant be done. So the conspiracy is that the speaker industry is HIDING that fact from us and instead leading us to believe that their NON custom tuned designs are just as good if not better.