Hi Lee, Randyman, Saki:
Yes, we may develop different tastes in tonal balance, but God gave us all the same hearing equipment--our ears and brains. Barring major job-induced hearing losses, we do in fact hear the same way. That, along with much other research, was revealed by Dr. Toole's long-term research into the correlation of objective speaker measurements with controlled double-blind subjective listening tests:all people with normal hearing will, when the price and brand of the speakers is concealed, agree on the best-sounding and worst-sounding speakers. And anyone can learn to discriminate like this with a few hours of training.
No two speakers ever sound exactly alike. But in the many blind-screen tests I participated in, along with Floyd Toole, there were lots of occasions when the tests included brands that you mentioned (and Axiom as well) and the speakers were so alike that I (and my colleagues) would often write down "similarly good". On certain cuts of music, you might prefer one over the other, but when the scores were averaged, those speakers were so closely rated that you could not say one of them was better than the other.
I concur totally with Ian's judgment on bass "punch". Paradigm has for years added a 2 to 3-dB boost in the 120 Hz region to its compact speakers (and some of the top models as well). While it initially will impress naive consumers in a store (dealers love it), it isn't natural. Over time it horribly colors all male vocals and FM announcers with a fat, plump, coloration. Have you listened to live kick drum (not miked by some stoned-out soundman EQing the bass to absurd levels) in a club? It's solid but it doesn't have that phony "punch" you hear from lots of speakers.
Good advice from Randyman. The aforementioned fat coloration in some speakers can be nicely reduced or attenuated by turning down the bass control by about 3 dB. On many receivers or preamps, this might be about the "10:00 a.m" position of the bass control.
There's every reason to worry about musical accuracy. That's what advances great speaker design. I know that what all of us seek in our living rooms is a "plausible illusion" of the real thing. But when the latter has fat, fruity coloration on male vocals and speaking voices--that ain't real! No guy sounds like that talking or singing.
You're certainly correct in one respect, Lee. When you stop trying to criticize the speakers and hear flaws, and simply get off on the music, it's likely the speakers are really good. That's what we mean by "transparent" sound. It's a window to the sound of real-sounding instruments and vocals.
Regards,
