Yes Drubin, you are correct. Why is it then that many keep looking for something better or is it just different? We truly live in the "golden age" of music reproduction with all the great choices available.
Funny thing is that I too am looking for much of what you are except that I want great soundstaging and imaging characteristics. I used to think that these are artifacts of the recording and weren't so important. Maybe so, but I've also come to realize that speakers that excel in these areas, along with the other attributes that you mentioned, make the music sound more real to me. So intimate should be on the recording and not a characteristic of the loudspeaker. I have been listening to the same pair of speakers for the past 13 years seriously considered upgrading them recently and then decided that I need to spend time looking at alternate options and am in the search too yet in the end may just update the speakers. So goes the search for the ideal which is ultimately unique to each of us. I know this doesn't help YOU much but it is in line with your observation of the varying speaker options given. Good luck in your search!
Funny thing is that I too am looking for much of what you are except that I want great soundstaging and imaging characteristics. I used to think that these are artifacts of the recording and weren't so important. Maybe so, but I've also come to realize that speakers that excel in these areas, along with the other attributes that you mentioned, make the music sound more real to me. So intimate should be on the recording and not a characteristic of the loudspeaker. I have been listening to the same pair of speakers for the past 13 years seriously considered upgrading them recently and then decided that I need to spend time looking at alternate options and am in the search too yet in the end may just update the speakers. So goes the search for the ideal which is ultimately unique to each of us. I know this doesn't help YOU much but it is in line with your observation of the varying speaker options given. Good luck in your search!