I agree with Jayarr. When I forget about the music and get into the performance then its time to bring out the check book. I am personally an imaging fanatic. If the speaker can't throw a reasonbly full size image in height and width at me I'm not interested. I know some would argue dynamics is the thing. Well for me its not dynamics because I don't listen very loud. And in truth in most concerts amplified and unamplified I rarely hear truly dramatic changes in volume. Except for large scale orchestral most concerts are amplified to some degree. I don't go to that many large scale classical concerts. What I do hear are dramatic changes in attack. Stats and planars seem to master speed of attack while they certainly don't have the dramatic changes in volume. Ultimately I have found speakers of almost every category of operation perform well on something; but for my preferred listening its image and speed first.
Speakers: What's MOST important to you?...
When you demo a pair of speakers, what criteria do you use to judge the quality of sound? What must the speaker have or do that will bring out the check book or credit card?