Have you ever wondered which qualities and parameters you should check when searching for and buying the right home audio loudspeakers? I spent the whole 2010 doing research for finding the best possible speakers in the market that matched my budget; I eventually found the best pair of speakers (not to mention I also ended up buying four set of different speaker brands, testing them with my system at our home, and returning them!). In the meantime, I developed a list and a structure of parameters and factors to help me in my selection. Here is the list:

• Sound quality (Acoustic characteristics)
  • Bass (deep, punchy, fast, accurate, extension, control)
    • Well control and extremely accurate lead to a perception of deeper bass than there might actually be)
  • Midrange (space and detail: e.g. vocal, piano sound)
  • Tweeter (High end, hights): crystal clear, detail, smooth, polished, off axis performance (e.g. where frequency response does not drop off nearly as rapidly as with other bookshelf models).
  • Imaging (precise), Spatial (spaciousness), holographic
  • Soundstaging (uncompressed, three dimensionality)
  • Timbral accuracy (good, bad, etc.) (e.g. piano sounding real)
  • Details
  • Clear & transparent
  • Disappear in the room
  • Dynamic: play loud without distortion, loosing
  • revealing of recording material quality/character
  • Tonal balance: (Neutral, not warm but also not cool, sounds like the frequency response from top to bottom is quite linear)
  • Tonal integration (mids and tops transition unnoticeable)
  • Minimum coloration: honest sound, realistic reproduction from the sonic & music point of view, boxy coloration
  • Engaging (long listening)
• Placement sensitive
• System demanding
• Design and finish
• Build quality
• Features
• Expansion possibility (for developing into a home theater system)
• Price (value for money)

Write a comment and say what you think about this list, does it lack any parameter / factor, should it be modified in any way, etc.