Your advice to speakers designers

This will probably match well with the kind of 'music' their owners will play. They might also excite the hell out of partners. We might be facing the beginning of ultimate idiocy and perversity.
I'll take those nice furniture speakers I was talking about. But Tannoy..maybe even them.

Speaker designers will always get it wrong because they can only afford to focus on what they think will sell, not on what is right. Speaker designers who focus on what is right feel they can only afford to ’educate’ their prospective buyers so much and still get people’s attention...they consider the number of audiophiles already educated and seasoned enough to be discerning enough to recognize a fully well-thought-out design when they’re confronted with one, may actually represent only a tiny fragment of the buying market. Well-thought-out in a particular technical regard or two are easy to find, but the comprehensive ones not so much (comprehensive does Not mean cost-no-object). Ergo, there are not that many examples of those types of speakers in the market. Furniture-oriented, crazy-looking, technically compromised bargains, absurdly expensive, boring but traditional, etc...pick your poison.

I'm going to kind of go along with the "making acceptable" furniture point by saying that on almost all of the speakers I've owned the finishes are so delicate it's near impossible not to inflict damage/scratches, etc. on them. I totally understand that in better systems the cabinetry is an utterly amazing engineering accomplishment, but how many of us view our speakers from the side once set into place?

Speakers are moved about more than any other component, ain't they?  I understand that most manufacturers have to appeal to making aesthetically appealing furniture as well, but given the practical end-user's personal adjustments down the road, would more practical materials detract from the sonics?

When I change cables on my Thiel CS 3.6's I actually get pillows down on the floor to protect the cabinets.  They're 108 pounds apiece with the connections on the BOTTOM. No easy task for anybody and risky as hell for the cabinets. 

Ouch. My back!

The big Tannoys in the Prestige line do have a bit of a dated look to them, but at least they're not hideous, and they sound even better than they look.

I couldn't afford any of the Tannoys that would satisfy me, so I bought old drivers, designed my own cabinets, changed the foam surrounds to "Hard Edge", built outboard crossovers, and they weigh 192 lbs. each, w/o drivers or crossovers. I believe they would hold their own against almost any of the current Prestige line. They don't look too bad either, a bit utilitarian though.  

Regards,
Dan

My advice would be to re-vivify Roy Allison and build me a nice pair of computer speakers to fit in corners.

Beyond that, I'm happy with my Maggies - unless somebody can whip up some plasma