Should a reference speaker be neutral, or just great sounding?

But, we should keep in mind that there is no such thing as flat in audio, never has been. Audio is a continuum of variables. That goes for all three parts of "The Audio Trilogy" Electrical, Mechanical and Acoustical.

mg

That's simple. A reference speaker should be Tunable. It would drive me crazy to have a speaker I can't physically adjust to my liking. Why listen to a speaker that one constantly has to blame something else in the system or recording for not sounding good?

Serious audio playback systems are Tunable, the rest...well welcome to the never ending revolving door of HEA. Not me, I'd rather be spending my time enjoying my whole musical collection.

Very strange to see someone having 40 pair of speakers never hitting the nail on the head. That's not a listener, that's a collector. Nothing wrong with a collector if that's what someone wants to be, but there's another way to get the sound you want.

michael

http://www.michaelgreenaudio.net/tunable-speakers

Reference in HEA is fairly generic and weakens the origins of "reference" or "referencing" music, which was started by going from the Live room to the Control room to the Playback room.

I've seen High End Audio try to use musical production terms from the very beginning. Cute but not reality as far as the production of recordings and playing back goes.

As said above, your room is more your reference than your speaker is.

mg

Hi Erik

In regards to your latest definition, the way you described it, reference is nothing more than a marketing tool.

michael