The ability to play loud is essential for me. It's not so much that I listen at crazy levels as I appreciate dynamics. The cannon in the 1812 Overture should sound (and feel) like cannon. I use my speakers to earn a living mixing music and film, but I also use my studio as a listening room and (in the old days) gatherings and listening parties. I want to hear the quiet parts quiet and the loud parts loud. And even though all my fan-equipped gear lives in isolation racks there is still some low level residual noise perceptible in the room. My JBL M2s can play quieter than the noise floor and resolve accurately down to where I can't hear them anymore. Loud is essential. Quiet is essential. Those two qualities give perspective to everything in the middle.
How much is "LOUD" still a reference point for some?
Do you feel that with speakers things are about the same as they were in the 1970s? In the early days of Magnepan, Advent, Dahlquist and more, much of the competition was in speakers that sounded like a Jukebox and played LOUD. Has this changed or is "LOUD" still the point of reference for many?