For 25 years, I have been listening to a good old JBL speaker until last year.
I'm not an upgrade fever patient as you are. I would like to buy the BEST audio equipment, to my ears, within a budget, and keep it for a while. So, I researched for a year and came up with few lists of speakers.
1) B&W Nautilus series (801 - 805) speakers.
2) Revel speakers.
3) Wilson Audio Puppy.
4) Dunlavy speakers.
Any of these speakers are truly the "speakers to hang on for life" but, to select just one among these speakers, I used following criteria:
1) Electrical specification. BTW, I am an electronic engineer.
2) Mechanical design.
2) Sound. I used classic and jazz music.
3) Company's reputation.
The final winner is B&W N802. I would like to say a lot about this speaker but you should auditioned the speaker and judge it yourself.
The B&W N802 is the "speaker to hang on for life" for me.