Maybe critical listening skills are bad?

I was speaking if you read my sentence about sellers of "upgrade" half the time useless when acoustics is not care for ( Not just room acoustics by the way )

Guess why and how i modify the speakers i just bought ? Acoustics knowledge ..Upgrade unnecessary... The venthole design of most speakers is not done as it must be done because of cost and esthetics... Same for the tweeter physical design in many case...

I modified all my bookshelf speakers for stupendous improvement... Acoustics rules...

However, contrary to the claim made by @mahgister above I don’t see how that should negatively impact sellers of audio equipment - quite the opposite

And like said atmasphere any good speakers  is able to do imaging well by design and by acoustics knowledge used to pair and optimize the room /speakers acoustics.

Without acoustics basic  applied in any room  speakers dont work optimally ...

When any system gear at any price is well installed and well acoustically optimized ,then you know it because your critical listenings skills are put to sleep, they are no more necessary.

Not because your system is the best in the world, but because any well acoustically well balance speakers/room experience is highly satisfying in itself.

What irritate us is a system which awake our critical listening attitude because we perceive clearly an unbalance set of factors,..

If we adress them and takes care of the acoustics problems, our critical attitude go to sleep and we listen music not sound defects.

Any system gear/room at any price well done will gave pleasure...

Acoustics rules audio... Sorry for the sellers of gear upgrades...

i could upgrade my 1000 bucks system (not the headphone it is the best in the world ) i dont need and dont want to... I call that the minimal acoustical satisfaction threshold...

My budget is limited and i must listen nearfield with small speakers now. but i felt no limitation, because it is OK acoustically for timbre, holography etc...

my top system choice anyway for music now is my headphone which beat most speakers system save top speakers in top room .

You say it better and shorter than me...

Sure, you will be able to enjoy one piece more than the other, but it will never reveal the true potential of any.

At the end acoustics is the vital part indeed...

i can do acoustics specific implementation with any system or speakers nevermind the one chosen at any cost, what matter is the end result for my ears with the chosen speakers for my budget, in a specific room...

Acoustics principles dont change with the branded name speakers design...You do the acoustic instalment in function of the speakers design anyway...

Acoustics implementation is not buying panels either , it is a business for people who cannot use a dedicated room only a living room ....

it is using the principles of acoustics to design a dedicated room for a main user...

Great Hall acoustics is not small room acoustics, it is very different business, reflections for example are not used in the same way...

Most people had no idea about acoustics anyway, it is easy to see reading audio thread...

In a word : the same system/speakers in a living room compared to a well designed dedicated room will sound totally different...No comparison at all in my three experiments... For sure the synergy between speakers and the gear
matter to begin with starting the process. But at the end you hear not a dac or a pre-amp but the speakers/room which you must learn how to tune...

In this sense Acoustics rule audio...

Most people ignore this because they dont have a room only for sound, nor the time to study and experiment...

They bought the costlier a few panels and this is all done... But in most case it is not done even if they dont know it..

There is no S.Q. relation between BEFORE and AFTER acoustics implementation nevermind the gear system chosen...

In this sense gear dont matter, pick the best you can at the price you can, but at the end this optimization of the chosen system cannot be bought with a few panels... Marketing dont replace acoustics...

Truth is not popular...

@mahgister --

You don’t negate the differentiation of speakers by understanding and properly implementing acoustics. "Properly" with a proviso, certainly insofar it’s not universally accepted what constitutes the right acoustic properties of a listening room in relation to a given pair of speakers, ears and gear. Acoustics aren’t everything, although a vital part of the "equation."

Critical listening must be learned and acquired by experimenting with acoustics principle in a room...

Not by changing the gear pieces and calling this my taste and listening skills.....

Is it so difficult to understand why ?

If you dont understand how to create imaging and soundstage in a room by yourself, using any speakers, according to recognized acoustics principles about reflections, absorption, diffusion, it is meaningless to speak of listening skills of reviewers  who change the gear piece4 and call their branded name products evaluation "knowledge"...It is marketting not knowledge...

I must be a martian...

Or my acoustics studies and experiments enlightened me...

Critical skills used to compared speakers are useless...

( save for reviewers who trust their "taste" and dont give a damn about acoustics conditions the look fixated on their new speakers which is ridiculous )

i use my critical skills not merely to buy speakers...But to embed them properly in a dedicated acoustic room...

I just bought new one, my last powered one stop functioning, i adressed the acoustic for the new one, bought the right tube pre-amp...And i modify the speakers vent hole for the better and the tweeter directional cell after few days of listening...

This ask for real listening skills unlike reviewers listening one speakers after the other in the same non dedicated room to sell you costlier upgrade...

The OP then ask the wrong question in the wrong way... And yes i want imaging and encompassing soundfield and natural timbre...No compromise here sorry.... And it is the third time i designed it with three different speakers pair, thanks to acoustics principle and to my learned acoustics skills..

Conclusion :

Each speakers ask for his dedicated room settings.. .. Listening different speakers in the same living room space without modification make no acoustic sense...i dont read reviewers...

Best to study acoustics principle...

The best theoretical book is Akpan J Essien "sounds sources"

The best practical acoustics books is Floyd Toole...

Between theoretical and practical all the articles of Edgar Choueiri....

By the way acoustics science dont change with the price of the speakers...I can embed well any speakers at any price...