I would agree with what Onhwy61 says about the old horn speakers he mentions in particular. Timbre and dynamics are of extreme importance to musicians when they evaluate what a speaker sounds like, with our reference being what live acoustically produced music sounds like, or what HP like to term "the absolute sound." This is why a great many of us still prefer those horns to this day. And by the way, dynamics does NOT merely mean the ability to play music loudly!! The opposite end of the spectrum is equally important - and horns also excel at the extreme soft end of the dynamic spectrum, as well as having all the other essential qualities on these lists. Many of the more modern speaker types do indeed greatly sacrifice timbre in particular for what they call more "detail." IMO, and the opinions of many fellow musicians, this is losing the forest for the trees, and the wrong trees at that! As one of my teachers said in a master class once - "if you don't have a good sound, nobody cares how well you play otherwise." Likewise, I don't care how "detailed" a speaker is if it doesn't get my timbre (and that of every other instrument in the orchestra or opera or what have you) very well in the first place.
Importance of Soundstage/Imaging
Here's an article from the on-line site Audiophilia about designing an audiophile loudspeaker. The author lists eight properties that an audiophile loudspeaker should possess.
In order of importance the properties are:
1 - imaging
2 - openness
3 - coherence
4 - air
5 - detail
6 - timber
7 - bass
8 - dynamics
My question is what is your preference for the order of these properties?
My preference is timber, dynamics, detail, bass, coherence, imaging, openness, air.
My second question is does your system accurately reflect your stated preferences?
One thing I really like about the article is how Michael Levy, the author, gives specific examples of the sound properties. Also, by coincidence, I just watched "Romeo Is Bleeding" this morning.
In order of importance the properties are:
1 - imaging
2 - openness
3 - coherence
4 - air
5 - detail
6 - timber
7 - bass
8 - dynamics
My question is what is your preference for the order of these properties?
My preference is timber, dynamics, detail, bass, coherence, imaging, openness, air.
My second question is does your system accurately reflect your stated preferences?
One thing I really like about the article is how Michael Levy, the author, gives specific examples of the sound properties. Also, by coincidence, I just watched "Romeo Is Bleeding" this morning.