Best Loudspeakers for Rich Timbre?


I realise that the music industry seems to care less and less about timbre, see
https://youtu.be/oVME_l4IwII

But for me, without timbre music reproduction can be compared to food which lacks flavour or a modern movie with washed out colours. Occasionally interesting, but rarely engaging.

So my question is, what are your loudspeaker candidates if you are looking for a 'Technicolor' sound?

I know many use tube amps solely for this aim, but perhaps they are a subject deserving an entirely separate discussion.
cd318

@prof wrote: "I don’t know what speaker you are describing in your last response to me. The Waveform monitor has a 5" woofer - both it and the Mach Solo measured quite well."

Duke replies: I couldn’t find the diameter of the Waveform midrange driver in a quick search, so I just decided to make a generic comment. A 5" midwoofer probably has a 3.5" cone diameter, so there may still be a significant off-axis discontinuity in the crossover region because the tweeter’s pattern may be considerably wider than the mid’s.

@prof: "speaker designers... get fairly pig-headed about the path they’ve chosen..."

Duke replies: Grunt grunt. Oink.

I guess all the posters think that my Kevlar 7" pair of mid-range drivers produce poor mid-range sound and don't integrate with my dome tweeter and ribbon super-tweeter.  However, somehow Legacy has managed to make a superlative sounding speaker, using cheap drivers like these and a trio of cheap 12" paper cone woofers.  No one who has heard my main system will argue with the results.  The Legacy Focus is a great speaker, with cheap drivers in a vibrating/heavy cabinet.  

Harbeth's sound great too and they use thin wall construction with drivers that shouldn't integrate either.  Go figure.
@fleschler , I wouldn’t worry. Until we get a sound indistinguishable from reality or at least one that listeners cannot identify as a recording, it’s always going to be a matter of choosing the compromises you can best live with. Our imaginations can always try and do the rest.

Your comments regarding best seating in the concert hall also apply to the cinema albeit to a lesser extent. Except that it’s usually the case of finding the least worst seats - usually in the middle of the middle rows. I’ve almost given up watching superhero films there unless I’m looking for a low level headache. Far more enjoyable at home, just need a bigger television. It’s funny looking back how we used watch on 21" screens.

@prof yes this pleasing ’bathroom’ effect can obviously add tonal richness. It’s never seemed to matter to the music industry whether it’s seen as accurate or not. In order to make vocals sound fuller
they tend to use compression and effects (eg double tracking, delay etc) rather than employ sympathetic room reverb. So I guess they, in their own way, are trying to make the sound more interesting. No one is seriously trying to make the vocals sound thinner and weaker.

It’s this pleasing warmth/ timbre that is being sought.
@prof Yes, I'm aware that I'm in a minority, though from alone.  Devore's tend a little more to the "modern sound" that is shared by most recently designed speakers in the 5K and up range.  I don't want to use the adjective bright, but they are doing something in the treble range that speakers with an "older sound"--e.g. Audio Note, the original Spendor S100's--don't do.  To each his own, obviously, but people should be aware.
twoleftears,

It makes total sense to point out the liabilities of any design choice, of course.   The proof is always how a designer manages those liabilities and to what degree the listener perceives the pluses and minuses of the results.