The L100 is a good example. Hearing it when it was first introduced, and having already developed a high sensitivity to loudspeaker coloration, as well as a love of vocalists and harmony singing, I knew I could never live with the L100. It’s reproduction of voices was atrocious!
For one who listens predominantly to instrumental Classical and/or Jazz, the vowel coloration of the L100 may not have been as objectionable. Yes, it was still introducing the same coloration, but we all know what the human voice sounds like; recorded instruments, not necessarily. Vowel coloration added to a tenor sax (which I have myself recorded, with a good quality condenser mic straight into a Revox A77) is not as noticeable (and objectionable) as is that same coloration added to a voice. IMO.
A loudspeaker which is good at revealing the inner detail in recordings will allow one to hear more of that detail than will a speaker which is mediocre in that regard. I know, of course. But if you listen to music which doesn’t require that ability as much as do some other musics, you won’t miss it in a speaker which doesn’t provide it. It’s not a matter of a speaker being able to play all music equally well, but rather a matter of one speaker being able to do more of what you want or need it to do than will another.
All loudspeakers are the end result of numerous choices, of trade-offs and compromises, the designer going after what he values most in music reproduction (or thinks the marketplace does ;-). The trick is finding one whose compromises produce a sound that aligns with your musical desires and/or needs.
