Why do people care what their speaker wants?

When Arnie Nudell was designing his state of the art speaker systems some of them were real amp testers. I think he pushed amp designers to their limit and it's still true today. Big systems like the Genesis Prime are working at the limits of what is possible. Not your choice for high efficiency loudspeakers but for those that can...

Because speakers is a woman, you want her to sing.

Why do people care what their speaker wants?

Quite simple really. You can’t take a random bunch of components, hook them together, and get the sound you want out of an audio system. You have to go about it in a systematic manner to have the best chance at success.

So, where to start? Speakers are a very good place to start. Find a pair that you like the sound of, then ask; What amp paired with these speakers will give me the sound that I want? Or, to say it in slang, What amp do my speakers want?

We know that speakers don’t want anything. They’re inanimate objects. We also know that certain speakers sound better (or different) with certain amps, and that’s what we’re asking for opinions on.

It’s the same as saying, My speakers like it when I suspend my speaker cables with rubber bands, when what we mean is, My system sounds better when I suspend the speaker cables with rubber bands.

Real speakers are 'alive', just like instruments.