Neutral or Detailed. You can't have both


At least not how I understand the audiophile terms. The problem comes in the mid-treble.

A truly, measurably, objectively neutral speakers doesn’t come alive until the volume is turned up, but will lack the perception of detail, because those details come from exaggerated and often rough treble responses.

B&W however has some of this reputation. They are not objectively neutral speakers.

The Magico S1 Mk II has an uptilt in the treble, but is glass smooth. It is probably what I consider the best example of this combined desire for a neutral but detailed speaker.

Monitor Audio’s top end speakers - Objectively neutral, superbly engineered. Often too laid back for most people, Audiophiles would not consider them "detailed."

As always, you should buy what you like. Maybe you don’t like neutral speakers. Goodness knows some reviewers don’t.
erik_squires
I disagree with a couple of the premises. Particularly:
" objectively neutral speakers doesn’t come alive until the volume is turned up, but will lack the perception of detail, because those details come from exaggerated and often rough treble responses.""
Now I am crazy about treble, and clarity which is lots and lots of tiny detail, particularly in the treble.
I would say the details comes from LOSING the roughness in the treble. My experience has been only annoying treble, rough treble is what bothers folks. the moment the treble roughness, grunge, distortion is SOLVED, the same level of loudness that before was so annoying, is no longer bothersome or annoying at all.
Rough annoying treble is NEVER the speakers fault. It is always somewhere earlier in the signal chain. You can buy speakers which ameliorate the problem caused upstream, but that is just applying a band aid.
Then another issue is defining ’neutral’. What does the op mean by neutral? Flat frequency response? Then ’doesn’t come alive’. What is meant by ’coming alive’? that is does not sound ’good’ Who’s good? usually I want a little warmth in particularly the midrange. Without it, most music become one dimensional, flat. Analytical.
I am not trying to annoy.. I just am interested in the topic. But I think it is not about the speaker. it is about what the speaker gets!
My interest is mainly in clarity wanting all I can garner, and still not ’going lean’. which is always the problem (in my experience) of reaching for clarity.detail. Nearly everything that (in the past) I found to increase clarity, also brought a decrease in warmth, to the point of becoming lean sounding. A lot of what I buy is to get more clarity. detail, but NOT give up the midrange naturalness.
My speakers are Magnepan 20.7 BTW.
A truly, measurably, objectively neutral speakers doesn’t come alive until the volume is turned up, but will lack the perception of detail, because those details come from exaggerated and often rough treble responses.
Two very detailed speakers I've heard (Sound Lab ESLs and Classic Audio Loudspeakers model T-3.3 with field coil drivers) don't seem to need to be turned up to come alive, and are some of the most neutral speakers I've heard. Two other speakers that also do this: Audiokinesis and High Emotion Audio (not sure if the latter is still in business).
So I think your conclusion is mistaken- you can totally have detail and neutrality at the same time. In fact I see that when you make an improvement, the system should improve in these two areas in particular and at the same time!

I'm not a fan of the speakers you mentioned for the same reasons you mentioned them.
I can certainly see the point you are making erik, but like others I don't quite agree with your ultimate thesis here.

Certainly a goosed upper frequency region can make a speaker sound more detailed at lower playback levels.

But the move to "therefore a neutral speaker won't sound detailed at low playback levels" seems to be the stretch here.

If, for instance, I'm playing my acoustic guitar (or someone else is) extremely quietly, there is still a sense of effortless, open, high resolution, even to the sound of the fingertips on strings, that is not found in many speakers when played at a similar volume.  (I actually use a recording of my guitar sometimes to check out the realism of a system with a sound I know well).

So it still seems to me that a high fidelity speaker, if both neutral and high resolution, would retain both those characteristics, like real sounds, even when played at lower levels.
I consider my present system to be the most neutral sounding I've ever had and as a result, I can play it at quite a low setting and get excellent detail retrieval, or resolution as some may call it. The only thing that's not up to the same level is, of course, dynamics and weight.

I fell you can, and should have both, since one is necessary for the other.

All the best,
Nonoise