Does treble response beyond my hearing matter?

Fin,

If the specs look good up to the limit of your hearing, you are probably in pretty good shape, no matter what might be measured beyond.

When I was young, I could hear test tones up to 20khz. Now, at 54, only up to about 12-14 or so. That's typical of how our ears age.

It can be a good thing though. By design, not much music occurs in the upper ranges of human hearing, but a lot of noise and distortions can. So not being able to hear up there can be a blessing. I find most music a lot less fatiguing these days than I did in my youth.

" I find most music a lot less fatiguing these days than I did in my youth."

Well, in my youth I listened to most things too loud and I often added more highs/lows. I used to think I needed to listen to rock music at concert levels. Now I realize that concert audio usually isn't very good and often is far too loud. Earplugs should not be necessary, for instance.

In the case of acoustic music it's better to listen at realistic volumes. That means the classical guitar or lute, for instance, should be dialed back until it's no louder than the real thing.

There has, a few years back, serious research been done - sadly do not remember where- which suggests that you do "feel" in music playback if information above 15 kcycles is missing.

While everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinions, FWIW, here's mine.

Although the original question does provoke different thoughts, I don't think it is relevant to the actual sound a speaker will produce. It is possible for a speaker with a somewhat limited frequency extension to have an unpleasant treble, and one with much more extension to sound very pleasing or vise versa. It is much more important to consider synergy of the system's components and cables with the speakers.

Having experience with various models of JMR speakers, I found that two, having the same specification for treble response sounded quite different in regard to "air or sparkle" with exactly the same components and cables. Trying different speaker cables proved that one speaker seemed to be affected more than the other, and could sound quite good with the right cable.

When looking at a speaker's specifications, I think sensitivity and impedance characteristics are much more important, so that you match a suitable amp. This assures peak performance, then use other components and cables for good synergy.

I'm looking for ways to reasonably narrow the field.

Of course, taken "with a grain of salt", reading multiple consistent reviews, and seeing the same comments on this forum about a speaker makes more sense than looking at a frequency specification, IMHO.