contradictory communication

I do not agree with the above. You do not have to have HF roll off to have a warm sounding piece of equipment. My idea of warm is more "Full bodied." Most of the time, that warmth is coming from the upper mids and not the high frequency driver.
A good example is compare an Ayre V5xe amp to a McCormack DNA 125. The Ayre is warmer but delivers a cleaner, smoother, more holographic picture. The Ayre is more tube like without any subtractions what so ever. The McCormack is leaner giving one the impression it is more transparent.
Maybe sonic richness is a better word.
At any rate, that roll off cannot be measured in the components frequency testing. It has to be in another area that is not defined.
Another example, the Vandersteen 3a Sigs have been said to be warm. However, they are flat out to over 22kHZ.
Therefore, it has to be another parameter that one is hearing.
Also, warm compared to what? Sure, if you have a lean sounding speaker, then another may sound warm in comparison. The question is, which do YOU deem correct?

The thing is, anything can add or subtract from the musical content of a recording making it sound warm or lean(components, cables, speakers and even some power conditioning.) My idea is for instruments to sound like instruments provided the recording is not so hosed up as to relegate all this to a moot point.
I think warm is a valid term. It just doesn't register the same way with everybody.
As was mentioned above and I totally agree with, harmonic richness can be considered warm if it is over done.
We all sit around and respond to these posts and the more you read the less anything matters in the overall concept. Everyone likes what they like.
You could have the perfect system by every imaginable specification possible and it could stink.
Your room has SO much to do with the ultimate sound. Warmth, leaness, transparency, holographic imaging, etc, etc really mean little until you reference them to some standard. Therein lies the problem, they're no standards.
I have actually heard a few people say Vandersteen speakers sounded lean in their system. Hmmm! Everything is a SYSTEM. It has to be taken as a whole. It to me would be hard to review anything without having some sort of reference system [you] believe in. You can take an amp and throw it into 5 different system and get 5 different opinions because of the way it interfaces with a particular system.
I think it's time to lay semantics to rest and listen to some more music!