Help me clarify, is there a difference between 'forward' and 'bright'?

I had a pair of 4408A, actually enjoyed them, have mixed feelings about letting them go. Always in search of the next one, the audio equivalent of the 'Hi Fidelity' movie with John Cusack, always think 'the next one' will be IT. Currently enjoying my AE500s immensely, also have an interesting pair of Royd Envoys I'm debating if I want to keep or not. They are gorgeous sounding as well. Decisions...

I think it is  more fun to distinguish between the difference of forward and bright with and audiophile than with their equipment:-)  I know many audiophiles who are forward, but not very bright:-)  Think of all of the possibilities:-)

Easy one.
 

Forward infers more midrange. 
 

Bright infers more treble/higher frequencies. 

For me, excessive ‘brightness’ is distortion in high frequencies or excessive high frequency etching / ringing. Akin to torch mode or ‘vivid’ on TV picture. It is not pleasant for listening in my opinion. I don’t think brightness has anything to do with dynamics or sparkle / effervescence in the sound.

Don’t really get how ‘forwardness’ would be a bad thing, unless it is a result of frequency imbalance. I want a soundstage that projects well forward of the speaker drivers and even around and behind me, if it is there of course. I also want a soundstage that extends well back from the speaker plain. Then again, i am less of an analytical listener and really like emotional engagement in my listening.

To me brightness yields artificial unnatural typically, an excess in mid high frequencies, a kind of metallic sound. Forwardness not necessarily yields unnatural sound reproduction. I think it much depends on how the recording was made, the acoustics in your room and what kind of speakers you have. Forwardness is not a negative feature of sound reproduction to me.