What is "polite" sound?

polite means well mannered. what is well mannered sound ?

a presentation which does not offend. unfortunately there are many descriptions of "sound" which does not offend.

the term "polite" is just another indication of the subjective nature of this hobby, but does not necessarily facilitate communication.

often conversation includes too many ambiguous or imprecise adjectives. this is another term that is not useful.

it is better to be factual than vague.

if you place 10 audiophiles in a room, there will be 11 opinions of what audiophle adjectives mean.

polite is just another audiophile adjective.

"polite" rarely uzed term would mean weak in bass and rolled highs. Tp ,e the Spendor 8 's were too polite, weak in all 3 main fq ranges. No authority for a speaker retailing at $3K. More often you will hear the term "warm" there are plenty of speakers in the warm category. Few in the "cool" category. Mine are 'cool", with no warmth in the mids at all. Hope that helps.

I think to get polite sound you should play 'polite' music. You wouldn't want a system that made Wagner or The White Stripes sound resricted and 'polite' because then it's not Hi-Fi.

Iain

''polite'' usually refers to people. Many reviewers are now using such terms as you would think they are describing a personality, and not a wooden box with drivers in it to provide sound, not matter how good or how bad it is. Using this terminology enables them to inflate or deflate the always-subjective reputation of audio gear.

These terms should always be taken with a grain of salt, as I pay no credibility to the reviewers who abuse of them.

Each of my audio components have a very distinct personality - just like people and cars. They are all complex systems with complex variables and outcomes. I feel it is very fitting to use personality adjectives to describe philosophies of individual audio components.

Sure, it is subjective but if that was worthless, all the audio forums and audio reviews of the world would not exist.

Arthur