What's the most important speaker attribute...and

Jayme:

I think that what you have just described is accurate mid-range reproduction, from about 200Hz - 2000Hz. This is the range of frequencies where the human ear is most sensitive and where we have the strongest sense of audio "rightness". If a speaker does not get the mid-range right, the rest is irrelevant.

One of the interesting "fads" right now in high-end audio is the proliferation of speakers with a very recessed mid-range -- and some of these speakers are in the mega-buck category. Some of the high-end audio reviewers seem infatuated with this speaker "sound", whereas several years ago they were raving about speakers that had a very forward, "in-your-face" mid-range quality. A few of the speakers with this recessed mid-range quality also have accentuated high-frequencies that create the initial impression of "air" and "transparency", but after some extended listening you realize that the speaker has poor tonal balance, and it ceases to sound realistic.

Although the audio properties of a speaker are, to some extent, a matter of personal taste, I personally agree 100% with your comment: "If it doesn't sound beautiful, if the instruments and voices aren't naturally seductive---you're not listening to music anymore..."

Hi, Paul:

Our posts are not in conflict with each other -- accurate mid-range reproduction means, ipso facto, that the distortion is very low. Otherwise, the mid-range ain't accurate...

You are quite correct that distortion is far higher in speakers than other audio components, but since speakers are transducers, there will always be some inherent non-linearity. I personally think that time- and phase-accurate speakers sound better, assuming their drivers are of high quality, than speakers that are not, and they often have the virtue of lower distortion as well.