Speakers with external parts, gimmicks or serious?

just another marketing gimmick.
in any speaker you can change internal crossover components. making them external identical to detachable power cord is only i guess for silly.

Crossover parts options are currently available from kit suppliers like Madisound.  For manufacturers of finished goods, such options would likely be counter-productive to marketing their speakers as painstakingly voiced to perfection...   

I believe Wilson provides resistor kits to allow the user to tailor the frequency response to some degree.  Nothing new.  

@chayro Oh, I forgot about them.

In addition, some makers provide fancy jumper boards, or switches to tailor the response curve to taste. 

To me that seems like a much better option than to keep swapping amps and cables, but it doesn't seem to be what audiophiles want.

Erik

So I found the Gryphon Mojo which has a replaceable resistor, and I think there's another brand that makes it easy. Zu perhaps?

Forgot.

Best,


Erik

My old Magnepan MG1.6s came with an external resistor that you could insert or not as you wished.

It could certainly be done....A manufacture could say.... switch the 3mfd capacitor with a 4mfd to lower the contour between the mid and tweeter or 4 mic to 3 mic to raise.  or have a simple Lpad with plug in resistors...with instructions... current tweeter has a 3db pad,  change R1 to this and R2 to this to increase to a 4db pad.... etc.... some changes can be done for taste.  Or plug in these 3 parts to add a notch filter to take the peak out.
Overall,  most manufactures try to obtain a flat response....

Well, there are speakers with adjustable crossovers and pots in rear pannel such as Vandersteen, Sansui. 

@timlub

Overall, most manufactures try to obtain a flat response....

I think that's a little generous from what I've seen. Many "high end" speakers are juiced one way or another. From rough treble to dips around 2.4kHz to enhance an artificial sense of imaging to boosts in the bass, or low impedance mid-bass to make speakers seem more "discerning." Product differentiation is very important to many manufacturers and that's hard to do when they all share the same frequency response.

There are of course exceptional products that try for exceptional neutrality, but I think saying "most" try for flat is a little generous. Over time speaker "voicing" of a particular manufacturer also may change as do the fads and what a magazine may promote as "best."

There's also the matter of listening habit and style. Flat in a test room isn't flat in your room, and you may not like it. If you listen at low volumes, boosts at the ends may be ideal.

Best,


Erik

@erik_squires 
I'm a generous kinda guy

Erik,

We are working to bring this control to audiophiles by bringing the crossover into the electronics. Although active crossovers may be daunting to many folks, some really appreciate the idea of taking control of the 'tilt's etc. These things are part of the 'personal taste' factor in audio, and giving control of this allows audiophiles a chance to like a speaker they normally would not like with a passive fixed crossover.

But you got to be willing to be a 'geek'...