This is a very complex question and goes far beyond the discussion so far.
There's the anecdote about the audiophile who goes to a live orchestral concert and his comments about the sound, "the high's were rolled off."
While it is a good thing to have speakers that have flat, on-axis response well past 20kHz, the last thing you want in home music reproduction is a flat power response into the treble region. When combined with closely mic'd instrument recordings it's a recipe for piercing, unpleasant, unnatural highs.
When talking about rolled off highs in modern loudspeaker it is how the designer/manufacturer handles the on-axis vs. power response issue that is usually being assessed. How the speaker is setup (toe-in), the distant from the speaker to the listener, the room and the recordings used are all factors. And after all that is taken into account it then comes down to listener preference. Although from the non-audiophile world it is the general consensus that audiophiles like a little too much treble in their mix.
There's the anecdote about the audiophile who goes to a live orchestral concert and his comments about the sound, "the high's were rolled off."
While it is a good thing to have speakers that have flat, on-axis response well past 20kHz, the last thing you want in home music reproduction is a flat power response into the treble region. When combined with closely mic'd instrument recordings it's a recipe for piercing, unpleasant, unnatural highs.
When talking about rolled off highs in modern loudspeaker it is how the designer/manufacturer handles the on-axis vs. power response issue that is usually being assessed. How the speaker is setup (toe-in), the distant from the speaker to the listener, the room and the recordings used are all factors. And after all that is taken into account it then comes down to listener preference. Although from the non-audiophile world it is the general consensus that audiophiles like a little too much treble in their mix.