Speakers with fullness and weight?

The "super detail" quest has indeed resulted in many "thinner than life" speakers as companies try to catch the ear of the audiophiles and reviewers. The number one easiest thing for folks to notice is increased detail. However, the ear of the audiophile can be easily fooled into the perception (we are really talking brain, not ear) of increased detail through offering up a sound with thinner body, increasing the PERCEIVED detail. So many reviewers and audiophiles get sucked into this.

Fort hose into analog, the same thing has happened with moving coil cartridges, most of them having elevated response in the treble which is easily measurable.

Note I use the word "audiophile" instead of music lover. Most have been taught by the magazines to proclaim the virtues of "real, live, unamplified music" so they talk the talk but don't walk the walk. My experience is the the owners of the most expensive systems don't listen to live concerts much, if at all. You can sell lots of product that does not sound more like live music as many (most?) buyers don't know the sound of live music.

Folks love showing off their systems (including to themselves) and nothing is as easy to show off as "more detail".

In the end, for most participants the hobby is indeed a hobby of equipment, not an endeavor of satisfying the love of, and addiction to, music. All those thin speakers speak to the former, not the latter. This thread has attracted several folks who are in it for the music, and some natural sounding equipment has been mentioned. Bravo.

Omsed,
You nailed it!
I've attended 3 jazz performances in the last two weeks. Last night a friend invited me to a recording studio and while there he played his trumpet and also a trumpet(Bach Stradivarius model) I'd brought along for comparison of their sound/tone.
All I can confirm is this, if acoustic instruments sound lean, thin, dry, flat etc. in your audio system something is wrong. Instruments heard live are remarkably full, vibrant and display a warmth and richness to their tone, it is quite beautiful to hear and appreciate. The OP's statement that thin sound equals honesty just isn't correct.
Regards,

Very well said Omsed! I too have noticed the abundance of "detail freaks" in this "hobby". On the other hand, I have also heard systems that are so warm and syrupy that they will put you to sleep. These are much rarer nowadays, as the industry seems to be pushing the tilted up treble sound of enhanced detail.

Many are buying this sound, and it's not limited to speakers, or even transducers. Many pieces of electronics, and even cables, are designed to promote the high frequencies above the mid's and bass.

I find it amusing that many will refer to this tilted up high frequency sound as "neutral". In my mind, the term neutral means a sound which is neither tilted up, nor rolled off. I am constantly amazed by how many folks refer to bright equipment as "neutral".

Thank you, guys, for your endorsement of my post. Hearing many, many live events and playing for myself in my own soundroom, the differences between what musters for "accurate" audio equipment and the sound of real music show a marked contrast! The words Charles used, "remarkably full, vibrant and display a warmth and richness to their tone" are perfect and I have used some of them myself. But as a 3 decade veteran I have observed, hundreds of times, audiophiles smiling and raving about hearing the action of a a sax or clarinet, chairs creak, and fingers sliding on strings. "Wow!!!!!!!! Never heard that!!!!!" But very rarely have I heard folks "ooohhh and aaahhh" over full, rich, natural, "real music" type of sound. Show that type of sound at a show and you don't get the attention of show attendees.

The bulk of the hobbyists are gear-heads, not music addicts. I think in the beginning many of them must have started for the music, but at some point a large percentage fell more in love with the system and impressing themselves and others. The equipment reflects this, the bright, highly distorted cables that sell so well reflect this, the ringing drivers in the upper mids and highs reflect this.

I love the sanity of this thread, it shows there are some guys who want to just listen to something that has the tonality of music. I've actually been criticized by industry folk for focusing on tonality! Sure, there are other very important things to pay attention to (dynamics being very high on my list), but if you can't get tonality / tonal balance right, what good is the product?

Finally, addressing the gear-head nature of the bulk of consumers and magazines, when was the last time you saw an audio magazine focusing on a particular artist, doing an article on them, talking about their vision for their own sound, or talking about the sound of different branded but same style instruments compared to each other? Sure, the magazines are about gear, but if everyone is supposedly so fixated on the sound of real music in real space, wouldn't they be interested in such articles? Fact is, we don't see them because they would mostly go unread as readers flip right to the latest speaker that supposedly reinvents the laws of physics (by using a 50 year old aluminum alloy for its "high tech" construction).

As music lovers we are in the minority of this hobby and we therefore need to be very leery of what folks we don't know say about the sound of the equipment they are reviewing or endorsing on forums. Remember, their priorities are likely very different than yours. I listen for myself, and "buy to try" instead of going by hearsay. Starting with things studios use and have used is likely a higher percentage shot if you are after something that sounds like real music. ATC, mentioned above, is an example.

I'm not so sure that speakers that are known for detail are necessarily bad at fullness and weight. I do think that in many case, inefficient speakers that require a lot of power and current for good balance top to bottom and that are also often accordingly smaller than desirable for fullness and weightin a particular size room are chosen in that smaller is often more practical. Fullness and weight suffer accordingly, but its more because of the gear selected together not being up to the task of delivering fullness and weight more so than an inherent deficiency in the speakers. Magazines do little to educate about what might work best in what ways together or in different size rooms, so the buyer finds out the hard way, if they even really care. If they don't, so what? As long as they enjoy listening to the music. No reason why it cannot still be enjoyable, even if not up to the audiophile standards of truly sounding "lifelike" in terms of fullness and weight.