In Reply to: A note on the O'Toole research. posted by unclestu on September 4, 2014 at 16:26:50:
If you're in business, the goal is to make money, not lose it. The most honest way to make money is to offer products that your customers will like. The best way to do this is to find out WHAT they like, and engineer your products accordingly.
Mr. Toole's research with the NRC aimed to establish (A) what sonic characteristics a majority of listeners enjoyed and preferred, and (B) what objective aspects of performance correlated with these listener preferences. The published conclusions of this research ultimately benefited ALL speaker manufacturers, not just the study participants. Canadian manufacturers of course benefited, just as English manufacturers benefited from the BBC research. All are making better speakers as a result, and their customers are thus enjoying better sound. I suspect Harman International hired Mr. Toole not because it was "cheaper than doing market research" -- his NRC research on listener preferences is already in the public domain -- but because his expertise can help them make better products.
I see nothing at all nefarious about this. Contrast this honest business model, based on offering quality product, with the Bloze approach of mass-marketing overpriced mediocre product to an ignorant public. THAT is cheesy!
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Follow Ups
- "The goal was clearly sales" -- this is a problem? - Brian H P 12:40:12 09/05/14 (4)
- this is not a problem - unclestu 13:06:55 09/05/14 (3)
- This is not right - 3db 08:42:36 09/06/14 (0)
- As a DIY speaker hobbyist . . . - Brian H P 13:41:39 09/05/14 (0)
- How Many Times ........ - abs1 13:17:36 09/05/14 (0)