Hello everyone! First post here.
It is very important that a speaker not add its own timbre to the recording we happen to be listening to. All too often we run into romantic sounding systems where all recordings seem to have a common denominator or character - the timbre of the speaker itself. In high end, it costs a lot of money to suppress a speaker's timbre (is it ever eliminated?). IMO it is far cheaper to design a timbre that is people pleasing than to neutralize added timbre. Some designs subtract or mask recorded timbre, and some sources benefit from adding harmonics somewhere in the stereo system chain, but here the OP is focusing on speakers. I agree with the OP's initial assumption that loudspeakers, on a weighted scale, have more to do with system sound than electronics, sources, and wires.
It is very important that a speaker not add its own timbre to the recording we happen to be listening to. All too often we run into romantic sounding systems where all recordings seem to have a common denominator or character - the timbre of the speaker itself. In high end, it costs a lot of money to suppress a speaker's timbre (is it ever eliminated?). IMO it is far cheaper to design a timbre that is people pleasing than to neutralize added timbre. Some designs subtract or mask recorded timbre, and some sources benefit from adding harmonics somewhere in the stereo system chain, but here the OP is focusing on speakers. I agree with the OP's initial assumption that loudspeakers, on a weighted scale, have more to do with system sound than electronics, sources, and wires.