We see a constant theme in various postings here, especially about speakers. There are the technically oriented people who argue that if the measurements are "off" then the speakers can't sound right. There are others who say, the measurements notwithstanding, what we hear is what we hear, and the speakers are good.
I came across a very long and very techical three-part article written in the 90s by John Atkinson, who often does the measurements on speaker reviews for "Stereophile." Mostly far too technical for me. But obviously he is a great believer in the value of measurements, but he takes a measured (pun intended) view of them.
Overall, he writes, "The best-sounding loudspeakers, in my opinion, combine a flat on-axis midrange and treble with an absence of resonant colorations, a well-controlled high-frequency dispersion, excellent imaging precision, an optimally tuned bass, and also play loud and clean without obtrusive compression."
His conclusions about speaker measurements are these:
"While each measurement of a specific area of loudspeaker performance gives important information regarding possible sound behavior, it emerges that there is no direct mapping between any specific area of measured performance and any specific subjective attribute.(Emphasis added) As a result:
• Any sound quality attribute always depends on more than one measurement.
• No one measurement tells the whole story about a speaker's sound quality.
• Measuring the performance of a loudspeaker involves subjective choices.
• All measurements tell lies.
• Most important, while measurements can tell you how a loudspeaker sounds, they can't tell you how good it is. If you carefully look at a complete set of measurements, you can actually work out a reasonably accurate prediction of how a loudspeaker will sound. However, the measured performance will not tell you if it's a good speaker or a great speaker, or if it's a good speaker or a rather boring-sounding speaker. To assess quality, the educated ear is still the only reliable judge. (Emphasis added)
And no matter how good any one measurement, if the beginning of the third movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, where the composer introduces the trombones for the first time, or Jimi Hendrix's hammered-on tremolo at the start of "Voodoo Chile" on Electric Ladyland, doesn't send shivers down your spine, the loudspeaker is still doing something, somewhere, wrong."
Dave
