Thin Walled Speakers -Tonian, Musical Affairs, etc

A highly resonated cabinet adds coloration's but also allows transducers to vibrate excessively this plus added coloration's can effect ability to image at higher volume levels since higher SPL causes increase in vibration and coloration's due to cabinet resonance that only increase with level.

True that (god how I hate that expression).

But if the cabinet's and driver's resonances are taken into consideration (designed in), in advance, and the drivers are adequately attached, the cabinet adequately braced, and in the case of the Tonians, being a semi-open baffle design, then it should handle most kinds of music provided its not used as a PA system.

Coloration can be a good thing as long as its intended.
When you think of a heavily braced, thickly walled, acoustically inert cabinet and all the sound absorption and abatement one must do to keep the sound from relecting back out through the drivers or ports at an unacceptable rate, who can say which is the better design? Both seem to work as long as they're well thought out in advance.

Coloration is not a good thing if your goal is to reproduce the music in its original form; thin wall and thick wall both intend to minimize coloration, they just use different methods to achieve it. But if you like coloration go for it; some like to walk around with tinted glasses after all. After a time they probably think the world is actually all pink.

It could be our ideas of coloration differ. Hues can be used to aid in tone. Gradations can enhance. Just how much is needed, or wanted, is in the ear of the designer. My take on coloration is of a slight application. Taking into consideration that speakers make the most distortion of any audio component in the chain (sometimes up to and beyond 10%), then coloration seems as reasonable as any approach in speaker design, along with cabinet construction, crossover design, choice of driver, etc.

As Nonoise stated, both types of designs can work or not work. I've had some pretty well damped and inert speakers I hated. Escalante Freemonts come to mind, they were 650 pounds of speaker that had no life or energy (not saying it was b/c of weight and inertness but they didn't "move" me. On the other hand Beauhorns with their thin walled cabinets were one of the musical speakers I've owned. Yes they were colored, or I'd say not as accurate as other speakers that have come thru my studio but at the end of the day they made me smile and listen to music.

(dealer disclaimer)