It depends what they’re implying. If they’re implying that there are better speakers out there for mid-field listening, just because coaxials are exceptional for near-field listening, then that is fundamentally flawed logic. Genelec Ones are arguably the best speakers in the world in almost every dimension, as long as you prefer the medium-wide beam width. (I would argue that Revel and others with
ultra-
wide beams are better for
some kinds of
stereo music.) Just because they’re exceptional in near-field in ways non-coaxials can never hope to compete, doesn’t mean they’re not exceptional in mid-field and beyond too
It’s true that coaxial speakers have unique advantages, and one of them is that they sound just as good no matter how far you are from the speaker, or whether or not your ear is aligned with the tweeter height. The latter part has other significant advantages in mid-field listening. It alleviates having to stress out about correct tweeter vs listening position height. It means you can lie down on a couch and listen to music, without a modified spectral balance. It means the floor and ceiling reflections will better match the on-axis sound, leading to better sound quality overall in most rooms at any listening distance.
So Genelec Ones are exceptional in every way, at all distances. Just because most other speakers fall apart at closer listening distances doesn’t mean other speakers are better than Genelec Ones at far distances. The Genelec Ones are uniquely good coaxials because they have all the advantages of coaxials and pretty much none of the disadvantages, due to the way Genelec designed them.
If you learn how to read the Klippel off-axis polar plots, it’ll be pretty obvious where this difference comes from and what it means.