@OP,
When I was a student, with limited funds, I bought inexpensive drivers and built my own speaker cabinets. I learned about the very basic stuff to make speakers which allowed me to use an inexpensive receiver and a turntable to play through the pair of DIY bookshelf speakers.
In the meantime, I look at reviews and tests, and go listen, in search of the 'perfect' speaker. As a person trained in the sciences and engineering, well as in music, a speaker must test well - not just the linear tests, but the non-linear tests too. Then I listen to speakers and it must sound real, enough to convince me that I am hearing what I expect to be real without having to concentrate to hear it. The speakers should also be listenable over many hours without fatigue. Too many speakers fail this last test, while giving a good initial impression.
It doesn't matter what technology is used to reproduce the music - horns, panels, cones/domes, ribbons, AMT, etc. If the final sound waveform is a facsimile of the input waveform, then that's the best you can expect from the designer. If testing shows this is so, and the sound tells me it sounds real, then I'd buy that speaker (if I can afford it).
Also, consider whether you will listen to the speakers for two-channel music, or will you also use it in a home-theater 5.1-, 7.1-, or more channels arrangement. If both, that could limit your choices in which speaker design you use. Good luck in your search.
When I was a student, with limited funds, I bought inexpensive drivers and built my own speaker cabinets. I learned about the very basic stuff to make speakers which allowed me to use an inexpensive receiver and a turntable to play through the pair of DIY bookshelf speakers.
In the meantime, I look at reviews and tests, and go listen, in search of the 'perfect' speaker. As a person trained in the sciences and engineering, well as in music, a speaker must test well - not just the linear tests, but the non-linear tests too. Then I listen to speakers and it must sound real, enough to convince me that I am hearing what I expect to be real without having to concentrate to hear it. The speakers should also be listenable over many hours without fatigue. Too many speakers fail this last test, while giving a good initial impression.
It doesn't matter what technology is used to reproduce the music - horns, panels, cones/domes, ribbons, AMT, etc. If the final sound waveform is a facsimile of the input waveform, then that's the best you can expect from the designer. If testing shows this is so, and the sound tells me it sounds real, then I'd buy that speaker (if I can afford it).
Also, consider whether you will listen to the speakers for two-channel music, or will you also use it in a home-theater 5.1-, 7.1-, or more channels arrangement. If both, that could limit your choices in which speaker design you use. Good luck in your search.