> Somewhere in a fiction novel I read about a music industry executive who would listen to new material on a crappy little record player, not on super fancy studio monitor equipment
Tangent, but the Yamaha NS10, the de facto studio monitor, is used precisely because if you can make it sound good on those it will sound good on anything. They're awful.
This is utterly fascinating, and something I absolutely would never have encountered or suspected without your comment. Thanks!
And, your comment is without exaggeration, as per the wikipedia article on the speaker: "it may lead to listener fatigue with prolonged use in the domestic setting"
Another common mixing/mastering speaker back in the day, not sure about now, was the Auratone Sound Cube and its descendants -- tiny enclosure with a single driver, not full range, but "unforgiving midrange".
Tangent, but the Yamaha NS10, the de facto studio monitor, is used precisely because if you can make it sound good on those it will sound good on anything. They're awful.