Re: Frequency Response/Contour EQ in full range systems.
I agree that as long as they aren't breaking anything, they should be allowed to do as they wish-sometimes it is very much a part of the "style" of the music.
I just relate that a flat system (more on "flat" in a second) is like a white canvas to a painter. If the canvus is already "colored", then the artist has a harder time creating the image they want to.
FLAT-WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Flat is a term that is thrown around, without any other association. Hence I think a lot of the confusion.
What does the term "flat" used? Back in the old days of dedicated RTA's, if a system was made "flat" nobody liked it. It was edgy, lacked warmth and so forth.
HOWEVER-if the same system was measured and adjusted (properly-another issue altogether) with any of the various transfer function measurement systems, then "flat" will sound very different.
They are both "flat", but measured with different tools.
To be honest I have not compared a transfer function measurement to an RTA measurement using the same measurement system-with a system in a real room.
I suspect that they may be closer today than they used to be.
I think "flat" is just another one of those terms that are thrown around, without people really knowing what it means (as Bennett suggested), such as phase, impedance, pattern, combfiltering and many other terms.
