What does it take to have a revealing system?

good ears and Jim Smith's 'better Sound'.

A system that is not revealing enough is not capable of showing off any component, nor the media being played on it. :)

I'm an advocate of using the "system foundation" approach to audio reproduction which IMO is the only sure method of obtaining optimal performance from audio equipment. Of course the more sophisticated the audio equipment, and the degree system foundation improvements are implemented, the more revealing the audio system.

In order of importance:

Symmetrical listening room positioning minimizing equipment between and around primary speakers, primary speakers away from room boundaries, proper toe-in, and equi-distance from listening position. With careful listening this will promote a more linear frequency response, coherence, and imaging.

Room acoustics to control sound reflections that "smear" audio diminishing dynamics, presence, and articulation.

Dedicated audio circuits with power conditioning to minimize electrical line noise that reduces dynamics and resolution.

Synergistic cabling (power, ic, speaker) to ensure design philosophy continuity throughout the electrical path.

Resonance control to isolate audio equipment electrical noise and vibration which smears the audio signal. This signficantly improves presence and articulation.

I'm convinced this is a sound approach because after attending a RMAF 2008 seminar and implementing most of these changes, my audio system sound has improved exponentially.

Lwhite's list is pretty good but also demonstrates how much work can be involved.

REgarding what or how much it takes to accomplish a revealing system, starting with headphones as a baseline simplifies things considerably.

Then you can focus on teh remaining room acoustics related things needed for speakers from there using the headphones as a reference for what to expect to be able to hear.

I'm a big fan of OHm Walsh speakers as a great starting point for many in terms of being able to well integrate speakers effectively into typical listener's rooms at home in a manner that is cost effective yet revealing and will tend to naturally draw you into the music and details repeatedly when you listen.

"revealing enough for a certain component to really show off what it can sound like"
most likely i am not into components yet but i am curies about this:
recently i was going through thread from 2011 CES, and the person took recordings from different manufactures and equipment. i was listening to these on my laptop using headset with mike (pc type stereo headset for 20 usd). Now, i got really surprised that i could here the difference in all equipment recorded - some sounded better, some so so, some quite terrible....
does that mean that my head set is so good because from listening to these high end speakers/cables/components i can tell the difference in the way the sound?????

something definitely dont make sens here....