Analytical or Musical Which way to go?

The Harman research seems to correlate well with what audiophiles like, though. The main exceptions I can think of are planars, as John Atkinson pointed out in his article. Floyd Toole sheds some light on this in his book -- the Quads (57's?) tested much better in stereo than in mono. And Harman tests in mono. Their speaker positioner also doesn't substitute for the careful setup of an audiophile system, which is particularly crucial with dipoles.

One point that Olive and Toole make, and it's one with which I agree strongly, is that speaker preferences are not solely a matter of taste. In blind tests, subjects with normal hearing routinely pick the speaker that is most accurate. I don't find that very surprising. Of course, we also "choose our poison" to some extent, depending on our listening material and levels and what we value most in reproduced sound. But the notion that people prefer inaccuracy doesn't seem to be true.

I'd draw a distinction, though, between picture-perfect response and accuracy with real-world material. If, say, pop recordings are hyped in the highs, as many are, you're likely to want a speaker that compensates for that.

05-11-12: Gregadd
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I pose the question then how can a spekeer that sounds lifeless be acurrate?

Would that pose yhis question. Does live music sound dull and lifeless?
If not how can we ever be be satisified with such a spseker no matter how well it measures?

I believe you're shortchanging your own questions in presupposing(via questioning) one and the other being entangled, as if marketing strategies and speaker developement hurdles have found a troublesome entry into your dealing with sound, and eventually music. At least it seems to me you've somehow become problematically intertwined with these issues, being, to my mind, that they're irrelevant and not least a potentially restricting factor into your grasp of music. What are you in this regard, a listener "only"? Then try and stop worrying about how to articulate and equate in words self-constructed oppositions like "live=lifeless"(I mean, what?) or how measurements are thought to be a ruling aspect of your listening enjoyment. These are aspects the ones selling and marketing this stuff are dealing with; don't make them yours. Make listening to music your OWN deal, something marketers and developers would THEN have to deal with. If live music is something you cherish then I would recommend that you attend more live concerts, give into them fully, and gradually "build up" a resoir of experience that more firmly grounds you in a reference point to go by when choosing the equipment to reproduce your (growing) collection of music. I'd say, whipe the board clean and forget about measurements and what can and can't be sold.

"Most good marriages have traits in common and most bad marriages are very different from each other"

Same with audio, though it may not be measurable.

No one denies there are good sounding speakers that also measure well. The question is why do some speaker measure well yet sound poor.Why are there good sounding speakers that measure poorly. The debate lingers.

I think one reason is, measuring a speaker is an extremely difficult task. If you look at the spec of a typical $1k speaker, the distortion figures mentioned will mostly be <1%. How is it measured ? Especially after one implements multiple drivers in a cabinet with added crossovers !! If it really is less than 1% then it clearly is not enough. May be our ears dont like distortion beyond 0.01%, so 1% distortion is 100 times more than what we it takes to sound "correct".
Or, may be the distortion pattern is very uneven even though it is less than 1%.

The point is when a designer doesnt have as good an ear for music as a penchant for numbers, he can only make a good speaker by fluke. On the other hand if a designer has a decent ear but not enough technical expertise he can only make a speaker which is "nice", at the max one can see a camp following his product but not beyond that. Truly great speakers result only when a great pair of ears work with a great brain in tandem. Those speakers measure great, sound great and are actually truly neutral. Unfortunately most such speakers dont come up in the hifi shows and scream "buy me". They are a bit like God, if you are passionate enough and seek them you will not only reach them but also be rewarded with a sound which is a bit like heaven, everything the way it should be.

"Truly great speakers result only when a great pair of ears work with a great brain in tandem."

Bingo!

Gregadd -

Sorry, my post above is likely out of your context and "flavored" with my own presumptions. It makes it seem as if you are somehow in "trouble" with your questions, which I have no right to assume nor was it my true intention. I guess I simply wanted to instill the feeling of being less at odds with prevailing theories on speaker design and marketing, and cue up the more personal approach to, and trust in sound and music itself; get rid of marketing retorics and price hierarchy, and see their jobs as befitting themselves. Something like that..