Neutral or warm? Which do you prefer?

I believe in balance, usually I can make just about any gear work. Take the neutral speakers and run some nice organic electronics. Then take the warm speakers and run some revealing electronics. The outcome will sound similar.

I like my sound totally balanced, revealing, but not edgy, musical yet not dark. It's like walking a tightrope getting the sound just right. If pressed, I would say that I prefer a system that errs slightly on the side of musicality rather than a system that errs on the side of transparency.

I have to challenge all of these calls for 'neutral', as to me, 'neutral' is an ambiguous reference. However, many times on these boards, 'neutral' is used to refer to gear that is 'transparent', or gear that artificially brightens the upper midrange and lower treble region.

In my opinion, I also like a 'neutral' sound, a sound that is not rolled off, or darkened, but also a sound that is not artificially highlighted, or lightened. Many times I listen to equipment that some folk refer to as 'neutral', and it is obvious that the equipment has emphasis in the 'presence' range, to help highlight detail. In my humble opinion, this is NOT neutral.

I have nothing against folks that enjoy a tilted up high frequency response, but I do wish they would stop referring to it as 'neutral' sounding. Neutral gear should sound neither rolled off nor lit up, it should just sound relaxed and natural.

05-24-13: Jjrenman
I totally agree but if lots of people are using "neutral" to describe speakers with a tilted up frequency responce than what word are they they using to describe speakers that do the least amount of tonal shifts either up or down?

Well those that feel that tilted up high frequencies are "neutral" would probably refer to speakers with little tonal shift as rolled off, or warmer sounding. While those that like a true neutral sound would probably refer to such speakers as "neutral", or "natural" sounding. Those that like warmer sounding speakers would probably refer to the same speakers as a bit "bright" sounding.

Neutral is certainly the word that should be used to describe gear that is not fast, slow, warm or bright. Neutral should be associated with gear that is neither tilted up nor tilted down.
Unfortunately, many folks use the word neutral to be associated with the opposite of warm, or bright gear, instead of truely neutral gear. If everyone understood what neutral meant, this confusion wouldn't exist.

05-28-13: Jjrenman
I agree. So you vote that we stay with the word "neutral" and do our best to define the word whenever we use it?

Yes. Most folks will not define what they mean by 'neutral', but you can usually read that they are inappropriately using the word. They will post something like "Neutral or warm? Which do you prefer?", which I will just interpret as "Bright or warm? Which do you prefer?". ;)

05-29-13: Rsimms
Neither. Warm can sound muddy and neutral can sound weak and thin.

05-29-13: Peterayer
On a good recording, if the performance sounds "accurate and natural", I find it usually means that the system has a "neutral" tonal balance, that is, it does not emphasize one frequency over another.

You see....that is the problem with the word neutral, it is often misused. In this case, Peterayer has used the word neutral correctly, while Rsimms has used the same word incorrectly. If it sounds weak and thin, it has tilted up high frequency response, and is therefore, NOT neutral.

However, this is not uncommon on these forums. In fact, I find that more folks use the term neutral to mean tilted up highs that highlight the treble region for the sake of detail, than use it to describe a natural sounding system which emphasizes neither the highs or the lows.

Yes, some live events are geared towards aging audiences with the treble tilted up, the same trick that some recording engineers also use. I have also been at poorly produced live shows, that doesn't mean adjusting the sound one way or the other is neutral.

My point is that neutral sounds neither rolled off or tilted up, the presence region is neither enhanced nor hidden. Neutral is not thin sounding, bright or weak. Electronic adjustments are made to accentuate detail that lead to this phenomena. Neutral is natural sounding.

It is easier to judge the sound of live performances without amplification or speakers. Something like an Orchestral performance. I have never heard live, unamplified music to sound weak or thin. As always, YMMV.