Evaluating a system - what do you listen for?

I find two instruments especially good for analysis.

I listen to live piano every day.  If a system reproduces believable piano that makes you think it is in the room with you, you've got something!

The other instrument is violin, and the same criteria apply.  If you close your eyes and can believe it is in the room with you. you've arrived!

I was playing some well recorder piano on my big system and my wife called down and asked it I was playing her piano (she should have known it couldn't have been me due to the quality of playing).

For violin, I find my Martin Logan CLS based system very believable.

Our goal for building our system is to get the truest, the most realistic music we can within our budget. The starting point for me are the speakers and how good the sound quality is. If you don't succeed on the speakers, the music will not be as good as it could be. The sound has to fill your room completely.

Next you have to pair the speakers with the best amp/receiver you can get. I would buy as much WPC as my money will allow. The speakers and amp/receiver will be the heart and soul of your audio system. Also keep in mind, you should not get higher watts that your speakers cannot handle.

The Sources, such as turntable, cd player, tuner/network audio player, will be personal choices. What works for one will not work for all.

I hope this will be helpful.

Hate:

1. bright high end.  If I cant close my eyes and relax, what's the use?
2 sloppy bass
3. bad room (slap echos, sprung wooden floor, etc.)

Want:

1. I want to hear ample micro and macro dynamics.
2. Soundstage - width, depth
3. Complex music doesn't overwhelm the system
4. tonal purity, starting at middle C
5. bass down to 45 Hz with a .707 damping factor
6. if any driver is better than the others, let it be the tweeter

I listen for phase shift distortion. The fewer crossovers, the less chance of that distortion. 
The faster the crossover slope, the more crossover distortion - phase shift.
6 dB/octave (first order) will introduce far less phase shift than 18 dB/octave.

Listen at high sound pressure levels - 85dB or so, and listen to music that you are familiar with. Do you get Listener Fatigue, i.e. an urge to turn it down?

Finally. listen at low volume. If the speakers don't excite enough air at low volumes, they will disappoint.

The best is not to try and focus on any particular frequency or sounds at first. I am a mastering engineer, and the best technique I use is to almost not focus too much initially. It sounds counter intuitive, but this approach allows you to get an immediate first impression on the overall track, especially if it is one you know. It takes a while to get used to doing this, because you need to not think and you might feel you are being distracted. A good way to practice is to put the track on and do something else nearby, or simply look away from your speakers. Once you have done this for about 5 minutes, you can decide to zero in on various frequencies in a focussed manner. As a rule, vocal and piano are the hardest to get right, so I look for this to sound natural and musical, but not "live".

Try not to look for this "live" sound. Most live sound is amplified and through a distorted PA anyway, so doesn't mean anything by way of comparison unless you are comparing to acoustic live music. Only then is the live approach valid. Even then, many acoustic spaces are not great, so live sound is such a broad church. Better to go with your own subjective preference. 

Psychoacoustics make a big difference too. Looking at a beautiful high end system or listing to one in a glistening top studio where you are overwhelmed by the glamour will often make you want to think it sounds better, so clouds judgement. Simply close your eyes to overcome this problem.

Finally make sure you are in a good mood/same mood each time you listen. Nothing affects your judgment more than how you feel.