Most forgiving high end speaker 10k-20k?

"This discussion has reminded me of how glad I am to have tone controls."

Treason!

I bet you have picture quality controls on your HD TV that muck with the pure natural picture quality that would exist otherwise as well!

Not to mention all kinds of fancy pre-configured settings on your digital camera that make pretty pictures even in low light but muck with the beautiful natural washed out dimness that would be captured otherwise!

:-)

Tubes help with harsher recordings I have found. Try tubes (and tube rolling) if you listen to problematic recordings. And the tubes help with great recordings too, even though this seems illogical on the face of it. Tubes really helped Beatles music for me. By the way, I have Lahave Mela speakers, very nice on difficult recordings (Beatles included) but they don't mask things (like the way a lot of familiar vocal character on Beatles music was missing in action when I had Harbeth SHL5s).

Any body heard from Jeffkad lately?

Sounds real, sorry, been working like crazy, traveling all over east coast. Have dropped in to read responses quickly but no time to chat.

I'm going to give a listen to the Sonus Faber and the Zu Def Mk4 (if I can find it to listen to). Like some others have stated, while I would likie to find some forgiving speakers, I dont want to be put to sleep. I still want musicality (toe tap inducing),tonality (the wood in woods, the resonance) and a forward "they are in the room" sound (not recessed, mid hall, and similar descriptions). If I dont get the last word in accuracy or detail, I'm fine with that.

Personally, I think the audio community, manufacturers and buyers alike, have become way too obsessed with absolute accuracy and to-the-last-degree detail. In fact, I'll go so far as suggesting that "absolute" accuracy is unattainable (at least at reasonable price points), and maybe many confuse pristine clarity without substance or body as some form of this accuracy. This is of course just my very humble opinion (no need to flame me if you think otherwise). Perhaps the opposite is true, maybe I confuse a little added distortion or midbass hump or tubiness/loose bass as "musicality" when in fact it just represents pleasant inaccuracy. It is what it is, but based on what I'm reading in mags, I do believe we are in an accuracy/clarity/detail fad of amp/speaker building. Again, JMHO.
PS- Sounds_real, now dont take me to task if I disappear for awhile, lol)

Jeff if you choose a speaker that suits your own taste (over the longer term) you have made the right choice irrespective of the level of detail or accuracy it truly has. It does not matter what others think. In my opinion though, I do think that people listen too much to leading edge detail rather than also listening within the body of notes. An example for me is hearing the richness of tone and micro dynamics within single notes being sung on female vocals. To me, this level of detail adds the emotional content. I would also add that I believe that as you get speakers that are more revealing, they add excitement, and your great recordings become better, but you hear some new flaws, your mediocre recordings are more listenable but are more exposed, and some poor recordings become unbearable. Overall you enjoy more of your collection -- my opinion.