Analytical or Musical Which way to go?

To say that the wrong measurements have been made for decades would be to take the easy way out. It might be far more appropriate to say that in the absence of the "right" measurement, too much emphasis has been placed on the "wrong" measurement.

I can hang with that, but IMO the latter aspect, 'too much emphasis' has been going on for too many decades. This has been a problem in both amplifier and speaker design, in terms of jumping the gap from 'hifi' to 'real music'. The problem is that human hearing rules take a back seat in the generation of many specs and test procedures.

Humans are so unpredictable.

The question remains who is the final arbiter? Measurements,reviewers or cutomers. Assuming some consensus could be reached about what measurements are important from a business point that would seem to be your choice.

Certainly there is no consistency between reviewers and customers.

I would go for musical every time, give me euphonic, coloured, tubes and I'm a happy bunny.

A more interesting way to express the question, is, how does the Speaker designer work on a new design? Is it by measurement or careful listening and tweaking. Now I know the two are'nt mutually exclusive, that "listener" will measure too and vice versa, but I'm sure different manufacturers rely on one or the other more.

There are 3 manufacturers that come to mind, in the"analytical" camp, Wilson, Focal and BandW. Just my view and others may argue I am wrong. All three I find unlistenable for any length of time. Wilson in particuar, I really dislike, apart from the cheapest, Duettes.

My own speakers, Daedalus, are largely voiced by listening and they are the best I have had.

So what path the manufacturer takes in designing the speaker, seems more important. I quite accept listening and measuring are'nt mutually exclusive.

David12, the Wilsons are voiced by listening too. If you have them on the right gear they are quite musical, also very revealing. But put them on the wrong gear and they can sound the way you describe.

In speakers its really important to see what the designer is using for a reference, especially with regards to the amplifier. If they use a transistor amp don't expect the best sound with a tube amp, and vice versa. Tubes and transistors don't behave along the same rules, for example transistors can double power when you cut the impedance in half and no tube amp will do that. That can result in very different crossover designs, which may not work right if you don't have the right amp! They behave with different rules.

More on this:
http://www.atma-sphere.com/Resources/Paradigms_in_Amplifier_Design.php