IMO a lot of the ti vs v4 debate depends on the content you are playing.

Around the time the ti speakers were developed the audio business was in a downturn while the home theater business was going crazy. I still find ti speakers pretty much ideal for home theater, while they can be a bit edgy on some music.

My theory (supported by some, mocked by others) is that a lot of popular music was mixed with monitor speakers that had a deliberate dip in the 2-4 KHz region (sometimes called "the BBC dip") since that response seemed to be popular with average listeners. The problem was that if you mix and EQ through speakers with a 2-4 KHz dip and then play back on speakers that have a bit of emphasis in that region you can end up with "bright" fairly easily.

Not sure of the reason but I never had that problem with home theater content. I'm guessing that the reference systems used for mixing movies had something closer to a flat or even slightly peaky response in that region, resulting in a more neutral balance across the frequencies...

... or it could just be that music from the 80s and 90s really was as awful as people say it was smile


M60ti, VP180, QS8, M2ti, EP500, PC-Plus 20-39
M5HP, M40ti, Sierra-1
LFR1100 active, ADA1500-4 and -8