So then it's how close you can come to the real thing? That's a problem for me because I listen to rock music 98% of the time. I've read interviews with some of my favorite artists who mix/produce their albums to sound best in the car, on a portable, or through a boom-box and they often do sound less-than-stellar on my main system at home.

If upper and lower octaves are difficult to reproduce through loudspeakers I guess the goal is just to get as close as possible to what they'd sound like in real life. Which leads back to the problem with most popular music. Take the bass drum example for instance. It starts out pure but as it heads to the microphone recording it, the studio's own acoustics add to the sound. Often times it then gets an effect placed on it and then compressed to sound good on the radio. Which leads me to the question of what makes something sound better "for the radio" as opposed to "for a high-end system"? Can a recording made with "audiophile ideals" in mind not sound good in a car or over the radio?

Getting off topic there I suppose...

Bill