Maybe a philosophical audio question for discussion…

I’m looking to build a system up from scratch. I’ve pretty much got nothing now. This will be for 95% music plus the occasional movie. I’ve started with speaker shopping. So far I’ve heard speakers from Sonus Faber, Linn, Paradigm, Klipsch, Dynaudio, Jamo, Totem, B&W, and ATC. (That may be enough for now.) Some of the speakers were just not great (Klipsch, Paradigm). Others (Sonus Faber, Dynaudio) struck me as dull and not very inviting- fine, just not for me. But…

Some speakers like the Linns (Ninkas) and Totems (Forest) I liked right away. I might call these more aggressive speakers. They have a wonderfully crisp, clear sound that I really, really enjoyed. Every song sounded great. Put a smile on my face right away. Super.

The ATC’s (7 and 12) sounded more accurate that anything I’ve ever heard. These are the only speakers in which the bass drum actually sounded like what a real bass drum sounds like- not just a low thump. However, some of my recordings sounded like crap. The accuracy is fun, the poor recordings were unpleasant to hear.

And then there are the laid back speakers. When I first heard the B&W (703) I was not impressed. Sounds fine in all regards, but didn’t suck me in and compel me to listen too much. But then I listened longer and it sounded a little better. And longer and it sounded even better. I liked them more, the more I heard them.

Soooo… Now I’m not sure what I’m after. There were speakers I liked right away. But will I get sick of listening to those on a longer time scale? There were the accurate ones which were nice- and different- in some regards, but didn’t sound good in others. Then there were the laid back ones. They didn’t pull me in right away, but maybe that is better for, say, 1-3 years down the road?

I’m curious as to what you serious music people look for in speakers. It seems I’ve found 3 different flavors. And I’m not sure which way to go. Obviously I have to do some more listening… And this is fun. :-)