Which speakers did you find bright, fatiguing or just disappointing in some way?


OK, controversial subject but it needs asked. I'm curious for your experiences, mainly in your home, not a dealer and esp. not a show demo
greg7
How can someone can passed a judgement on any speakers in an uncontrolled and untreated room?

This the the proof almost no one lived through an acoustic room transformation...

A too warmish, too low centered speakers cannot be elevated to the "lark ascending highs" for sure; in this case if they are perhaps not bad but really are not so good speakers....

But a too harsh, too cold and too detailed speakers with fatiguing highs is most of the times the results of an undercontrolled or undertreated room...I already detected many times horrible unnnatural harsh sound coming from the costlier speakers it seems...No way that was the room unbeknownst to the listener boasting about them....

It is easy to put a fatiguing speaker on the other end of the spectrum if it is not a design defect....Most very costly speakers are not defect design....For sure little box speakers with no bass are fatiguing without redemption... But Focal speakers need a room for example we cannot fault the design....

Then most really should put their critic with more caution....

"Taste" is the audio word signifying most of the times i dont know what i speak about...



A natural timbre instrumental sound coming from some speakers are always what musicians and true audiophiles wanted and it has nothing to do with "taste".... It is always a relatively "objective-subjective" experience with the musicians in an orchestra and more of a consensus among them and an habit than a particular "taste"....It is a "learned" experience all along their musical life.... Not a taste....


@luisma "happy wife, happy life" 
She saved you by pulling you away from those garish colors.
I didn't suggest that you made up the claim. I simply found it odd, given both my experience, and the relative lack of similar opinions from other owners whose feedback I have read.
How is it odd that some people dont like the sound of a speaker? It happens with every speaker. 
And given that Johnson had a proclivity to have inconvenient posts deleted at his request, is it any surprise that we didnt see many negative feedback on his speakers?
@glupson" Virtually all Bowers & Wilkins (except one older model)."

I had the very same experience, somewhere in the late 80s I listened to B&W model?, I think 800, anyway the biggest they made with all McIntosh tube gear and they sounded great.   Now I can't listen to them at all.  Their room at RMAF 2019 was atrocious. Oh well.

But that's not the worst.......

Plasmatronics, with the ozone tweeter.  A point source radiating 360.
No upper limit on the tweeter because it in effect has zero mass.  OMG talking about ear splitting...window shattering.  And the salesman was gushing over the accuracy!
@hilde45
I totally agree with you, it is human nature. And I’m certainly not disputing the validity of your post/reference.

We live comfortably as long as our human nature sensibilities agree. Unfortunately, when our human natures differ, in extreme cases we slaughter one another. (And everything in between.)

Fortunately, most of us can sort ourselves out to some degree and keep our darkest nature at bay. Even small things like respecting each other on an audio discussion board is a step closer. 

My point is it’s not cool to develop a habit of abusing others. It hurts feelings and is unsettling, especially to tender hearted people. I think those who do it online, do it offline, they just have to choose victims more carefully.