First I let my wife pick it. A happy wife is a happy sound. Then I ask her if it is the right color, size and price. She doesn't care about the sound so I don't either. I think this is actually how I go about it- I have found it takes me about 6 months to get a handle on the microdynamcs, which matters a lot to me. And so after finding a speaker that sounds good and auditioning it I need to know more about longer term use with it. So I hope to get comments on that.