Loudspeaker design targets are set by human listeners, not engineering metrics

Evidence

The design of state-of-the-art transducers and loudspeaker systems are computationally intense mechanical and electrical engineering exercises. However, defining the performance targets for loudspeaker designs is an exercise in graphical interpretation. The final judge of success is a human listener, who is listening to recordings made by other humans listening to different loudspeakers under very different circumstances. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 47

Categorization

• QUESTION: What exactly does ‘graphical interpretation’ of performance targets mean methodologically — which graphs and which reading strategies?
• XREF: Connects to Toole’s core theme in this book that subjective listener response, not measurements alone, defines loudspeaker quality — his ‘spinorama’ and preference-rating work.