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


I was thinking about something as I was typing about how I've observed a magazine behave, and it occurred to me that I have a personal bias not everyone may agree to.  Here's what I think:
"To call a speaker a reference product it should at the very least be objectively neutral."

However, as that magazine points out, many great speakers are idiosyncratic ideas about what music should sound like in the home, regardless of being tonally neutral.

Do you agree?  If a speaker is a "reference" product, do you expect it to be neutral, or do you think it has to perform exceptionally well, but not necessarily this way?
erik_squires
Isn't it simply the "reference" to what makes you enjoy listening to music the most? By saying a reference has to be neutral starts getting dangerously close to saying it must also measure best (or at least incredibly well).  Once we take the emotion out of our listening experience we are doomed.  I think it's the Reference to what stirs one's soul - that would be my point of reference.
Reference is something that you make comparisons to, a standard.  So, logically, it can be anything as long as it is constant.

For me, a personal reference should be as neutral as possible but I see no reason why others should not have a different standard, if they choose.
I feel you have monitor speakers which just produce the music in the studio .But Reference should be you.....r go to speakers that give you the highs ,the mids and the lows that make you happy...