I beg to differ, You appear to be applying your preference for shiny veneers over sound quality, personally I couldn’t give a toss how speakers look in my domestic environment as evidenced by my choice and setup, along with the 18 panels or so of GIK acoustic treatment in my living room.
Personally I love the styling of them, all the money spent on what matters and and an utter disregard for expensive bullshit veneers is something I can heartily applaud.
As an additional aside I was browsing through the online reviews of the recent Axpona hifi show and every single “supposedly high end” speaker/system I saw was absolutely gopping in their panderance to visible expenditure, all big n’ shiny extravagant trinkets with big ‘n shiny price tickets attached, it’s no wonder the subject of high end audiophool equipment deserves the derision it gets from those who who actually produce/engineer the music that is played back on such equipment.
Neumann themselves sum it up perfectly:
They say:
“When music professionals listen to music, they do it with a different mindset than music consumers. Enthusiasts simply want to enjoy the music they love as best as they can. It doesn’t really matter if the sound they hear is an accurate reproduction of what the artist intended. All that matters is the listeners’ subjective impression. Most music consumers therefore prefer speakers that seem to enhance their listening experience.”
Neumann if anyone should know, they’ve been making recording equipment for almost a century. Im not sure I’ve read such a clear explanation of the difference between professional monitors and home stereo speakers. Neumann clearly don’t think it’s a myth.
It doesn’t mean you can‘t set up your home stereo like a recording studio, as you seem to have done, but the vast majority of people without dedicated listening rooms don’t. FWIW, I don’t have any veneer on my speakers or any shiny audio (rather dull units hidden away controlled remotely), so your comments seem somewhat prejudiced.