Judging speakers to purchase.

My favorite music sounds the way I like it to sound. This is the only attribute I care about. 

The ones I have an emotional connection with. When I listen to them, I am able to forget about evaluating their technical aspects but am sucked into the emotional content of the music.

That I don’t feel like I’m listening to speakers at all. 

I want to hear the drops of sweat hit the floor as Jascha Heifetz barrels through the Tchaikovsky violin concerto!

It’s a given that speakers have to play well in your room, especially in the sub-200 hz range to have any chance of sounding like music. But for me, having see-thru clarity and stellar phase coherency is huge, then they can pass along what they’re fed with minimal coloration and veiling. A great soundstage is a must, but is usually present if the clarity and phase coherency are good (dispersion is factor here too). That level of clarity also tends to bring excellent micro dynamics. Yep...superior clarity is up there on my wish list, but it also makes them revealing of the rest of the system, which can set you up well for the rest of the journey.

I want to be able to just relax and enjoy the music and not think about the reproduction at all. My speakers give me that.

Has to sound musical with finesse. Not looking at specs with perfection.

Hoping to discover more regarding the sound that the speaker has. Thin, forward, bottom heavy...feel free to use words like rich midrange and organic sounding and realistic presentation...

Often speakers that are appreciated most simply work well with. the room acoustics. 

stellar phase coherency 

@knottscott , can you expound upon that?

Hoping to discover more regarding the sound that the speaker has. Thin, forward, bottom heavy...feel free to use words like rich midrange and organic sounding and realistic presentation...

Transparent, balanced, and natural sounding with a believable 3D soundstage and imaging if it’s in the recording.  To me, if you sense you’re listening to speakers or something they’re actively doing instead of feeling like you’re just fully and effortlessly experiencing an unfettered performance then something is wrong.  That’s my take anyway and what I’ve always strived for in building/improving my system. 

Speakers are the only component that can affect sound radiation pattern. There are qualities not found in “typical box speakers” that you find in varying amounts in dipoles/bipoles/omnidirectional speakers/open baffles/wide dispersion box speakers. If you haven’t heard any from these categories worth a listen before you decide. Huge soundstage and they disappear.

soix

I like it...

@immatthewj

stellar phase coherency

@knottscott , can you expound upon that?

In a nutshell, the idea is to create a music wave that sounds natural when it reaches your ear, as if it’s coming from a single source. For example, splitting the female voice between a woofer and a midrange means creating a uniform wave from two sources, so the timing of those two drivers to create the illusion of a single source poses challenges, or it won't sound natural. The slope of the rolloff of both drivers and the crossovers all come into play, along with reflections of the baffle. One of the appeals of full range drivers is that they are a single source, though there are other downsides, as there are with every option...never a free lunch. 

soix - something the speakers are actively doing, vs effortless performance - good point, I agree. When my system sounds good, I don't think it is "doing" a lot, I just get into the music. Trouble  is, there is a huge middle zone. Music is quite good but something is not right. Like a too insistent tweeter. But then I find out that the problem is clear with some music, not all.

Very often I have suspected problems in my system, only to find that I (mainly) hear the same problem in my system nr 2, and from digital as well as analog, and so on. It is (mainly) in the recording. Can better speakers help with that? Or - should they? What about the raw truth? I think we are often chasing problems in our systems that are in fact problems of the recording and production of the music. Although I do agree that speakers can exaggerate recording problems, like sibilance, too hot takes, etc.

In my experience, there is one problem that dominates. The music sounds fine as long as it is fairly subdued, sparse, not too many instruments, etc. Often the verse is fine, but then comes the refrain and chorus. The whole band rocks on. Not to speak of the band AND a full orchestra! What happens? Distortion! My impulse is to turn the volume down. And then, up again, at the next quiet passage. I have not yet found a speaker that "cures" this impulse. Although some hide the distortion better than others.

@o_holter

Your reply highlighted a lot of things I suspect most of us experience...especially the last part about small group sounding fine, only to have things intensifying during the refrain and sort of falling apart.  I can't say for sure, but since it's not true of all recordings, my best guess is that it's due to noise and compression in the recording.  Not something a system can fix without mucking up several other things, but maybe a good remix could help.  Best bet is to build a system around the music you like best and listen to most often.  

ghdprentice

So what makes that happen..