Bemoptil123, I would say that my winged Voigt Pipes with the newer Lowther EX3 have some colorations, to be sure. I don't think there is a speaker made that isn't colored to some extent.
However, there are differences in the colorations in speakers which are related to the type of design.
In my speakers there are some frequency response peaks and dips which means that my speaker's overall frequency response is not totally flat. There are some colorations imparted from the construction of the speaker cabinet which come mainly from the box itself, and the port. The Lowther drivers themselves have some variations(like the "shout") and the characteristics of paper cone drivers. So, yes you could say there are some audible colorations in my system.
However, I have found that there are colorations of similar or different nature in virtually any speaker made. The ones which claim to be uncolored and flat response with full range, generally have multi-drivers and are full of other types of distortions and colorations of different kinds, most notably the lack of any life left in the sound. It is all very polite, and measures well, but that is about all that can be said about it.
So, I take my choice. I prefer the life of the Lowthers over the lifeless, but polite sound and good measurements of the multi-drivers.
Some people may say that couldn't be right, and that their speakers don't sound "dead". And that's what I thought before I heard the Lowthers on a SET-ZOTL amp. Then I realized that everything else DID sound "dead" in comparison. And of the few people who I have known that have gone this route, they all say the same thing, and have all gotten rid of their very expensive and highly respected high-end multi-driver loudspeakers in favor of the Lowthers.
So, to answer your questions, I feel colorations come in a variety of forms, not the least of which is the inability to sound lifelike. I prefer a lifelike sound, even if it comes at the expense of some expected audiophile parameters like flat response, or some other colorations. If I have a choice between a speaker that meets all the expected specs but sounds "dead", and my speaker system that doesn't meet all the expected specs but has "life", I'll take the one that I've got which has "life".
I suppose that makes me an "audiophile criminal", but I don't really care about that. I care about my music sounding as lifelike as possible, and that is what I have.
