Listening to speakers before purchase is really important. They need to speak to you… not just have lots of detail and bass.
After decades of planar speakers… I was with a friend while he auditioned speakers.. I was really touched with the incredible organic - real musical sound sound of Sonus Faber. I couldn’t get them out of my mind. A few years later I finally gave in and bought a pair as an experiment. That was it… they were way more natural than other speakers… no chance of me switching brands after that. I traded up twice. I optimized my electronics around the speakers… now have the best system I have heard, tailored to my tastes. My earlier mistake was concentrating on details and slam and not on musical. Do I really need to hear the bassist move his foot? Don’t get me wrong, you can hear that in my system, but it does not detract from the music.
There are a lot of advantages to established high end brands. There top level speakers push what is possible, and the technology trickles down (good speakers you will constantly discover strengths you didn’t know about over time) to less expensive models. Higher resale value. Once you have found the sound you want,,, upgrading becomes much easier, just move up a couple levels. I remember all too well swapping speakers I thought sounded great at store and once home they sounded vastly different. Had to tweak all my electronics to achieve the sound I heard.
Choosing audio equipment… each piece is hard. If you can find an established speaker company then electronics that complement them… each upgrade can be much easier and more predictable. My system under my ID.
Of course, you have to know what you like. That probably took me thirty years to figure out.