Mike made a good point on Revel's. They are much more detailed to the extent where they will show up flaws in the rest of your equipment which may or may not make for an enjoyable listening experience. The better your source and amplification is, the better they will sound. One reason why I personally feel Revel products(Ultima Series)are superior to Aerial regardless of HT or 2 channel listening, it just forces you to upgrade the rest of your gear accordingly. To me, "laid back" and "forgiving" means information lost. SOmething I found when I recently had a pair of 20T's next to my Salons. On a few passages you could hear the vocalists every so slight breathing patterns between passages through the Salon's, along with some cymbal/drumstick contact information, both of which were non existant on the Aerial's which had a much more "laid back" personality, but its a given that when you sacrifice dynamics, you lose detail in the process. Thats why I like speakers that have maximum dynamics and detail. If I want to "lay back" the sound, I would rather do it through my amplification,source and cabling, not the speakers themselves.