All speakers have a little EQ built in

I would have a very difficult time replacing a variable L-pad instead of just soldering in fixed value resistors. I’ve seen too many of them go bad. Maybe with high efficiency horns that have very little power applied this could be reliable, but not for me.

One theme that comes up a lot when I look at old speakers and the crossovers is that we have much better tools but also different tastes in sound reproduction. Part of what makes new crossovers (especially for Infinity) better is we have tools to simultaneously track impedance and frequency response. Part of it is that sometimes (ahem, Infinity) makers just didn’t care that much about slapping in different drivers. It’s also true though that our listening tastes have changed and mastering engineers along with them.

Then there's the Kef Reference 1 Meta and..... WTF????

Although many people attest that the analog EQ does not alter the sound trait in general, I am suspecious if that is true.

@lanx0003 - Fan though I may be of tone controls, this is not the blanket statement I would make. There are in fact bad tone controls and bad EQs. Sometimes this happens when a manufacturer takes excellent care in the audio circuit, but skimp in design on the extra parts for the tone controls. I had a Parasound P7 that was like this. An otherwise excellent multi-channel pre with a veil that would come over it when tone controls were engaged.

Anyone who wants a more in-depth explanation can visit my blog posting on the subject:

@carlsbad2  Oh, I prefer a smooth and objectively neutral treble as well.

OTOH, Dali for instance, is making big strides by lifting up their treble response.  I think there is a market for that, for hearing loss but also for low-level listening.

The goal of a good crossover is a flat frequency response from bottom to top.

@carlsbad2 I'm not sure all speaker designers share that flat goal.  A speaker thatsounds good in a room and will sell may very well be their goal. The term speaker designers use in fitting different drivers together, and matching them to a cabinet is equalization.

@james633 - That may be true. In most designs the raw sensitivity of the tweeters is higher than the woofers and/or the woofers need EQ to boost the bass by cutting the top of their response down, all of which forces us to lower the tweeter levels considerably.

The end result is a speaker which needs considerably more watts than it would otherwise, but we usually compensate for this with monster amps... so... 😂

@overthemoon  - There are actually bad tone controls.  Manufacturers would implement excellent analog stages and then glue on tone controls (or headphone amps) as after-thoughts.  So, I can understand that there have been bad examples, there is also gear with consistently good examples.  Luxman for instance makes excellent transparent tone controls (but not headphone amps).

Sadly, those speaker level adjustments were often unreliable over time and the cause of much frustration.

Modern speakers are not designed for an anechoic chamber, but the measurements may be done that way in order to properly set crossover points and alignment. No competent speaker designer I know of would build a speaker for an anechoic chamber.

I do however agree that good tone controls in your preamp are wonderful. I’ve had gear with good and bad tone controls, so I can understand the reluctance of some listeners to use them again, but good ones exist!

No one's room and no recording or hearing is perfect.  Let's be good to our enjoyment of music and use tone controls!