Crutchfield's Speaker Compare

As most people with PhDs will tell you, having PhDs involved is no defense!!

They are attempting to apply the speaker's transfer function to the audio sample.  Call applying that transfer function something other than a "filter" if you like.   And how did they arrive at that transfer function? What domains does it encompass?  

Is it cool?  Sure it is.  Parlor tricks always are.  (Kidding with you!)  In my view, there is too much room for error for it to be useful for its intended purpose, but I can appreciate and respect that you see it differently.  I think we can all live in a world where we don't agree about the efficacy of the Crutchfield Speaker Comparison Tool!  :)

This sounds as useful as the speaker demos people post on YouTube!

Genuinely, I just meant to show that the point exists, and didn't intend to advance it.  I have no beef with Millercarbon.

Millercarbon,

Very glad that you are happy with your Moabs.  It would have been very discouraging to find after all of your research that your ultimate opinion didn't align with your expectations.  Also, returning the speakers would have been a huge pain, and perhaps would have led to a confrontation with the designer -- I'm sure you're very glad to avoid all of that.  

Your excellent outcome notwithstanding, it is still my view that the tool is more a parlor trick than anything else.  If you read the Crutchfield patents on the tool, you will find that they use the purported transfer function of each speaker to do the compare.  (How'd they generate that transfer function, BTW??)   So no actual sound from the speakers is used to create the comparison; it is a filter applied to the samples.  For that reason, among others, I think the tool is kind of silly.  But if folks find it useful and find themselves happy with their Crutchfield speakers, that's great for them.  To me, that doesn't prove the validity of the tool.  If others are convinced otherwise, great for them and I respect their view, as well as yours.  

I can't be sure, but your last sentence "At least, they are useful once you learn to listen" might have been intended as a slight toward me, implying that I am not sufficiently competent to make YouTube speaker reviews helpful.  I would note that your argument cuts both ways.  I can just as easily say that you aren't able to listen well enough to appreciate the difference between the YouTube videos and the actual performance in your room, and that your view is hopelessly tainted by, e.g., confirmation bias.  But I see no reason to go there.