What creates the effortlessness in sound reproduction?

The biggest problem though I believe is the lack of good recordings. Let me mention one that holds for any sound level - Cream reunion live at the Albert Hall. Bluray.

*S*  What I've appreciated from and by y'all is the 'brand-less' and 'item-less' qualities of this forum....

Don't tell me 'with What' you're 'using'....speak to me about What you seek.  What are you listening for?  The qualities, the impressions, the nuances...

Paint me a picture....don't brandish an advert.  If there's something 'specific' that you mention, we can always find a means to exchange that and those details...

I realize that this may strike as 'Pollyann-ish'....but, at least, for awhile, Here....

It's been mostly avoided...and I'll thank y'all for that. *S*+!^5's*all that....

(I'll give Eric a pass, though....he seems to live in a GIK padded cell, and I can relate...;)...

...I can only hope he realizes that I'm kidding Him Big Time...*G*)

Respect and admiration can begat parody and pun....and I'd be remiss if I'd didn't act 'to form'...*S*

"Effortless" for me is context-dependent, including the old trick of turning off the lights and listening with candle light only. Turning down the volume a bit, so I am dragged into the music rather than having it pushed at me. If I'm stressed, music sounds worse. So it is a matter of the listener not just the "objective" system. Add all the good advice above, like good source, preamp and amp, efficient speakers, etc. Avoid over-damping the room. Maybe consider a distributed bass system if it blends well with the speakers. - The Cream reunion album, mentioned, is very good on vinyl too.

Not all 6.5 inch drivers are made, measure or perform the same.  Look up the Dali drivers made in house.  No need for 15 inch drivers for effortless sound. It can be done other ways.  Also, products from Perfect Path Audio help greatly in this regard. Many roads to this goal.  

grannyring,  I agree with you that some companies/drivers are much better at attaining an effortless sound than others. Dali makes an excellent product, and I have thought of reviewing one several times. 

I am spoiled by regular use of larger speakers, which has skewed my expectation, standard of what constitutes refined sound. I would struggle to accept a monitor or smallish floor standing speaker as my reference. If the bulk of my experience was with speakers with 6-7" bass driver(s) likely I would agree with you entirely.

 I struggle to think of any driver under 8" across the industry that has an effortless sound when listening at higher levels compared to much larger drivers. Others disagree, so be it. The perceptions and expectations of audiophiles in terms of sound are as wide as the performance of systems themselves. I'm not expecting anyone who has not used much larger systems in their home to agree with me.  They may work hard to get a smallish speaker to sound far more relaxed and effortless relatively compared to their earlier systems, so they think it's got a high degree of that attribute. In my experience not so in comparison with far more formidable speakers. 

The smallest dynamic driver I have heard in my room that can put out 20Hz +/- 3dB and not sound strained is the Audio Technology 11" in the Vapor Audio Joule White speakers  (reviewed for Dagogo.com)  YMMV