What does listening to a speaker really tell us?

Since you are right that going from a live performance to a recorded performance degrades the performance,even with an excellent recording,it follows that you compare speakers using the same music. At least the degradation will be equal from speakers to speakers.

I stole this idea from an article in a magazine but it makes sense to me:

--Use a recording you've heard over and over.
--Make sure you listen to different speakers at the same amplitude;you might favor the louder speaker otherwise.
--Compare two sets of speakers at a time. Once you've decided between A and B,compare your choice against C,and so on.

Assess according to these four objective factors:

--timbre. Does the orchestrated color of a violin plus a cello sould like the color of a violin plus a cello(for example)?
--imaging. In a three part counterpoint,can you follow the melody,the countermelody,and the third line defining the harmony without the speakers getting in the way?
--dynamic range. Does the distance between a single instrument playing softly and a hundred instruments all playing loudly sould correct.(Even fine speakers will compress this distance a little. Even a good fm broadcast signal compresses dynamic range somewhat.)
--frequency extremes.Do violin half stops and organ pedals sound correct?

I know it's harder than that,but it's a start. Also,it's a personal preference. Maggie 1.6 s don't have the best bass or dynamic range in the room but,for me,the imaging and timbres are more important.

Enjoy the search,when you find something your ears like,get those speakers.

1...Listen to a female vocalist. Does she appear between the speakers?
2...Listen to a male news anouncer on the radio. Does his voice have an unnatural boom?
3...Listen to a piano recording. Does it sound like a piano?
4...Listen to a large orchestral piece. Does it sound full, and not strained.
4...(Optional) listen to some loud pop and/or rock. Does it sound aweful?

Carefully rank each speaker on a scale of 1 to 10 during the listening sessions. Add up the scores. Then, go to your nearest Magnepanar dealer and buy one. Spend the rest of your money on a nice vacation.

My yardstick for evaluating any component really boils down to how much I "get off" on the music over an extended period of time. What else matters?

I wish some one would identify for me the "perfect" upstream components that Pawlowski refers to so I can start to evaluate the performance of my speakers! :-)

For myself, its all about fufilling my fantasy of what I want to hear in my room - I certainly have no idea what took place in the recording venue. Beyond a certain point fulfilling that fantasy seems to be more limited by the recording than the equipment. I find it important to have electronics and speakers that are synergistic and produce a relatively detailed and neutral toned sound in my room. I want to be able to tell a bass in its high registers from a cello in its low registers and a cello in its high registers from a viola, etc, if its on the recording. I want to hear brushes distinctly without an uptilted high end, and and and.......

Part of the voodoo here is that human hearing isn't linear. When midrange and bass tones are at equal sound pressure levels, the bass ones will sound subdued 'cause the ear is more sensitive to the midrange frequencies. The reason fidelity takes many forms stems from the basic question Pawlowski asks, fidelity to what?