Since we are all familiar with the TRUE sound of the human voice, it is the best test signal to evaluate the fidelity of a speaker. However, other less accurate speakers may sound better for particular kinds of music. If you listen to rock bands, buy a big boom box like the ones they use on stage. If you listen to dixieland jazz, get a horn midrange/tweeter. I had some very small B&W bookshelf speakers that were great for violin. They were about the same size as the soundbox of a violin. If you must hide the speakers from your wife, get those tiny Bose speakers. If spatial characteristics are most important to you, get some ugly room dividers - sorry..Magneplanars. There is no right answer.
What's the most important speaker attribute...and
why?
That ineffable "musicality" is IT for me. The ability to reproduce human voices that sound, well, palpably human and distinct (not all raspy, if male, or sibilant, if female).
Instruments sound like they do "live."
In a nutshell, you don't gush to your friends, "Hey,I keep hearing new things all the time," but rather, " Billie sounded soooo beautiful," or, " the counter tenor blending with the bass---magical!"
If it doesn't sound beautiful, if the instruments and voices aren't naturally seductive---you're not listening to music anymore, no matter how impressive the stage width, depth, or heighth, or how dynamic and uncompressed it is. (My system is currently in large scale flux, from front-end to speakers; I just went to SF EAIIs [from Piega C8LTDs], Pass Labs electrs, Audio Note cdp, but I'm swapping out passive preamps this week [Preeminence & con-john pfr] seeing if they make significant improvements).
That ineffable "musicality" is IT for me. The ability to reproduce human voices that sound, well, palpably human and distinct (not all raspy, if male, or sibilant, if female).
Instruments sound like they do "live."
In a nutshell, you don't gush to your friends, "Hey,I keep hearing new things all the time," but rather, " Billie sounded soooo beautiful," or, " the counter tenor blending with the bass---magical!"
If it doesn't sound beautiful, if the instruments and voices aren't naturally seductive---you're not listening to music anymore, no matter how impressive the stage width, depth, or heighth, or how dynamic and uncompressed it is. (My system is currently in large scale flux, from front-end to speakers; I just went to SF EAIIs [from Piega C8LTDs], Pass Labs electrs, Audio Note cdp, but I'm swapping out passive preamps this week [Preeminence & con-john pfr] seeing if they make significant improvements).