Analytical or Musical Which way to go?

How do you know that what where measuring for is really the way to a great sounding loudspeakers? Would have to have the assumption that designers truly know what to measure, how to measure it and if it really has a major effect on quality. And while we have made much progress loudspeaker design relies on measurement, simulations but mostly on ideas skill talent and yes listening.

"Years ago a Supreme Court Justice, in describing Porn said, 'I don't know exactly how to describe it, but I know it when I see it.' (Paraphrase)"

They went on to leave it up to community standards. What's obscene in a small town would not be obscene in the big city.

So like most speaker designers/ reviewer5s they punted.

In light of the fact that there are so many variables that comprise your stereo , I feel you have to go with what sound pleases you, the musicality camp over accuracy. Look, we have an amplifier, preamp,cd player and possible a separate DAC, turntable cartridge and tonearm, cabling, stands,speakers,footers etc. Then you place those in a room, no two of which are alike. You treat that room (or not) with differing products. Then add in that everyone's hearing is different. What if youre over 45 like a lot of us and you have some degree of presbycussis. What use are masurements against all those many variables? If someone says this component measures perfectly flat (as few ever do), how is the person with some hearing loss going to perceive that as opposed to someone with perfect hearing? IMHO 'tis a far far better thing I do to buy components and treat my room in a manner that gives me a sound I like and that I can listen to for hours without listener fatigue.

Many things common to small towns like lack of sophistication, racism, wife swapping, smallness, extreme smallness, lack of hipsters, a lack of "pretentious audio salons", lack of decent porn, are in my book (or pamphlet) obscene. So are Yamaha ns10s.

Also, a lot of brilliant audio engineers and musicians are "older" people who can readily work with music in spite of having old ears. So please, everybody stop with the "ageism" already. I've found that all good ("musical") sounding speakers have something in common: A designer who listens to them and does whatever it takes to make them sound good.

Neither. A speaker has no business editorializing on what you're feeding it "lesee.. a little brighter here, a little boomy there, etc." You should be caught up in the music it's playing and not notice that it's "analytical" or "musical"

>Time and again I read designers yo say the design the speaker to measure as best they can. But it just does not sound like music.

They're either not measuring the right things (on-axis response isn't enough with monotonic power decreases into the first reflections also important) or they've compromised to fit market considerations and budgets (two-way cone and dome speakers with flat baffles and conventional cross-over points are inherently flawed as are electrostatic panels) and done the best they can within those constraints.

In 2004 Sean Olive actually came up with formulas that do a very good job predicting speaker preferences based on polar measurements and bass extension. They work with listeners regardless of nationality, preferred musical genre, experience as criticial listeners, etc.

>Then enters a second speaker that sounds like real music but does not have optimum mesurements?

No speaker has optimum measurements, but all that sound lifelike are very flat on-axis, have fairly monotonic directivity increases with frequency (there's some latitude in compensating for a local directivity minima with an output notch), and provide deeper bass extension.