"RPS" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:

If you were not present at the original recording session, with good
memory, how can you judge the accuracy of the reproduction?
You can't.

I mean, I can tell that Spendor, Proac, and Dynaudio are sounding
different, but don't I need to be familiar with the actual original
sound to judge which one is accurate or uncolored?
Yes, of course, how else will you know?

However, many critics and audiophiles audition speakers and pronounce
one to be accurate or not, colored or uncolored, including in this
forum.


So they do. (It's no bad thing - when people stop criticising stuff we'll
get fobbed off with any old crap on a 'take it or leave it' basis.)



I was wondering what such assessments are about? Is it in the end a
different, if somewhat misleading, was of saying you simply like or
don't like a particular speaker?


Yes. In the end, as listeners, they are only expressing their own opinions.

When a speaker is designed and manufactured it will be made to sound as
close as possible to that particular manufacturers 'house sound' either to
create sales on a large scale or (unusually) a sound which they think is
superior whether the mass markets are likely to take to it or not.

The amusing thing is, that by the time many people have bought and upgraded
a number of pairs of speakers (probably getting more and more expensive as
they go along) searching for 'perfection' they could probably have had a
pair tailored to their very own requirements by a capable builder for less
money! (If not rolled up their sleeves and built their own, which is not
easy however......!)

The trick with speakers is to stop listening to them and just keep chucking
the music on. Do that for long enough and any old pair of dogs will become
your 'reference'. Start with a pair of attractive and well-built speakers of
the right size (a glance will tell you) from a Name you respect and just
stick with them. Bear the following in mind and you won't go far wrong:


Little speakers can be very good until bigger speakers come along. (Size
*always* matters....)

Wood veneer sounds much better than vinyl wrap.

Floorstanders sound much better than standmounters or bookshelf jobbies.

Light wood veneer sounds better than dark wood veneer.

Silver grille cloth sounds better than black.

English speakers sound better than those from any other country.

Biwirable speakers are much better than non-biwirable ones.


That's about it AFAIK - did I miss anything obvious?