Rather than thinking in terms of accuracy, I prefer to simply think in terms of sound signature. Because every speaker, no matter how transparent it was designed to be, is just giving you an impression of the music. And that impression either appeals to you, or it doesn’t (and that’s not even getting into the fact that the sound signature, in real-world situations, can’t be separated from the user’s listening environment).
Here’s the problem with thinking in terms of "accuracy"...if you think about it in terms of "accuracy", and you truly believe the speakers are "accurate" and you don’t like what’s coming out, then you either have to move to a new house, find a new band to listen to, or lobby the band to hire a new recording engineer for their next album (some people will say there’s a fourth choice, getting new equipment, but I think that’s too frequently cart-before-horse). Using an analogy to illustrate the "accuracy" fallacy - if you believed your kitchen windows were perfectly clean and spotless, and you didn’t like the view, would you go buy new windows?
So I don’t think of speakers that way - they can never be truly spotless windows, rather they’re paintings that give me a view to the outside world. I also completely avoid the whole "musical" and "magical" thing because for me personally those adjectives aren’t describing the speakers, they’re describing MY emotional response to that speaker designer’s impression of the music, and that is entirely personal and can change from listener to listener, room to room, even day to day.
Here’s the problem with thinking in terms of "accuracy"...if you think about it in terms of "accuracy", and you truly believe the speakers are "accurate" and you don’t like what’s coming out, then you either have to move to a new house, find a new band to listen to, or lobby the band to hire a new recording engineer for their next album (some people will say there’s a fourth choice, getting new equipment, but I think that’s too frequently cart-before-horse). Using an analogy to illustrate the "accuracy" fallacy - if you believed your kitchen windows were perfectly clean and spotless, and you didn’t like the view, would you go buy new windows?
So I don’t think of speakers that way - they can never be truly spotless windows, rather they’re paintings that give me a view to the outside world. I also completely avoid the whole "musical" and "magical" thing because for me personally those adjectives aren’t describing the speakers, they’re describing MY emotional response to that speaker designer’s impression of the music, and that is entirely personal and can change from listener to listener, room to room, even day to day.