Quote Originally Posted by Sir Terrence the Terrible
They can measure poorly and still meet an individuals taste. A speaker that has excellent measurements usually sound better to many people, not just an individual.
In many ways, dipole speakers do not perform the same way in rooms that forward radiating speakers do because of the fact that the back wave is of opposite polarity to the front wave. John Atkinson's suite of measurements for Stereophile is not particularly well suited to dipole speakers. A few things come to mind. The anechoic or quasi-anechoic curves may show a big peak in the bass which is not there in the room measurements. Some of them are fairly well balanced in a room. The back wave can offer a pleasing spaciousness. Also, out to the sides, the front and back wave cancel each other out pretty well.

I found Quad ESL-63s to be very placement sensitive but they can sound very good on a lot of music. However, bass balance is difficult and it is hard to get piano and male vocals to sound right.

On the other hand, my current monitors are more accurate, are easier to place, have a much wider sweet area, and it is easy to get male vocals and piano to sound good. Some recordings that were problematic on the Quads sound fine on them.