Flavor should be added at the mixing stage, not baked into the monitoring hardware.
Evidence
But, one keeps hearing comments along the theme: “neutral is boring; I want monitors that excite (or pick a word) me.” The visual parallel to this is “clear glass is boring; I want my views to be tinted.” The problem with both is that the coloration, acoustical or visual, is fixed—it affects everything in the same way. Surely that too becomes boring. Whether one is a sound recording engineer judging the product through monitor loudspeakers, or a visual artist creating images behind glass, the artist is in control of the art. If it is boring, then add excitement with the numerous timbral and spatial algorithms available to mixers these days. That way the “excitement” is incorporated into the recording and has a chance of being communicated to the customers. If accentuating a part of the spectrum provides audible insights during the mix, do so with an equalizer, not a different loudspeaker. — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 1474
Categorization
- APHORISMS: A durable principle: add color/excitement to the work itself, never let a fixed tint in the tooling masquerade as the craft.