05-31-09: Audiofeil
>>05-30-09: Mapman
... We all have different keys and cues which make a speaker "better" to our ears. The operative word being "our".
I suggest you learn a little more about what, why, and how we hear. Pick up a copy of "This Is Your Brain On Music" by Daniel Levitin and you'll understand better.
Exactly.
You can't select the speakers that satisfy you (other than dumb luck) until you come to understand how each speaker type interacts with a room, and which room interaction you prefer. Mini-monitors present a virtual point source; panels radiate a figure-8 pattern and reduce sidewall and floor-bounce interactions. Phased arrays can present a stunning 3-D image, but some have a *very* narrow sweet spot.
Personally, I like Omnis because their in-room power response is reasonably linear and energizes the listening are similarly to live musicians. But that's me. Someone else might favor nearfield listening, or a controlled dispersion pattern (e.g., horns), or a phased array, or forward-firing, but wide dispersion (e.g., Merlin, Paradigm, many others).