Thanks very good question hilde45...
How to choose speakers?
I owned 2 pair of speakers in my life that pleased me...( i dont count very small computer speakers i tried for my desk)
The Tannoy dual gold 12 inches which i owned for 40 years ( 2 sets paid 400 bucks in 1975 each set) and i sold them because they were too big for my desk,
which i regret to have sold 1000 bucks because they needed refurbishing at the times and they were too big for my desk..
7 years ago i have decided, owning no more a really working audio system, to concentrate on desk small speakers and headphones...
I bought 8 headphones of 4 different types and modified them mechanically and acoustically and electrically...With success...But compared to speakers i stay unsatisfied...
My audio journey begin like that...
I stay unsatisfied a long time and one day i decided after having sold my marvellous Tannoy dual gold, to go back to speakers again...I decided to go British for the speakers because of my past Tannoy good experience...
I read non stop all REVIEWS about all speakers type but mostly vintage affordable one...I bought a small Mission speakers for my computer desk which was so good i decided to read all there is about the best and top Mission model...
I stumble on the Mission cyrus 781, i read all reviews on them... I bought them 50 bucks... :)
These were the best model Mission ever designed and they were sold around 1000 bucks in 1989... Dont confuse them with the newer Mission 781 (same number) the Cyrus model with the same number is superior...
I was lucky to buy them at this price and they were able to work again after some long warming for months... :)
Now this was luck!
And the result of studying all positive and i discovered no negative reviews... It was like my Sansui AU 7700 there is not a single negative reviews of this amplifier on the net and i look for them for months...
This is my story...
Now to answer your question ...
How do i choose a pair of speakers?
I dont know and even Floyd Toole the great acoustician explain in this video WHY it is so difficult...
Listen to this video for some answer....
Now i will say something to you which is the fruit of my own experience and experiments in acoustic...
i am not an acoustician at all only a regular passionnate dude who wanted to create sonic heaven on earth at no cost...
My experience is that NO SPEAKERS will sound the same in a non treated and non controlled room, compared to a treated and well controlled room... NONE... There will be no comparison at all....Save for a better "timbre" experience potential... eWhen i listen my Mission the first time after owning a very good hibrid magneplanar system the Monsoon desk computer, i was not so sure that it was better on all counts with the Mission... But my room at this time was nude not treated and uncontrolled...
Then choose the speakers with your studying of reviews and ratio price /quality, and "touch some wood" for luck if you are not able to listen to them before buying like me...
I dont know any other means... The specifications marked by the company are not all the story there is to know.... Listen to Floyd Toole video....
And knowing what i know by EXPERIMENTS about SMALL room acoustic i know and it is the good news, how to adapt the room response to a particular speakers... I know it by a long trial and errors process not by equations solving or by a simple recipe....
Acoustic of small room CANNOT be adressed and taking care of ONLY by simple recipe and few panels like said some acoustic panels sellers for the sake of their business...For sure it is better than nothing...
But adapting the room to some specific demand of our own ears and for specific speakers is a long TRIAL incremental tuning process.... The bad news is this is a different process mechanically for each different room and different speakers... There is no simple recipe , we must make a long tuning process with hundred of listenings sessions in a DEDICATED room...But the result is so ASTOUNDING that almost no upgrade of gear will compare... It is huge to the point there is no relation between the sound of speakers BEFORE and AFTER room treatment and especially room control... Someone who did not live the process himself cannot know it and believe it...
Acoustic is the key to audio... Nothing else... For sure the two other embeddings dimensions controls must be adress, the noise floor level of the house, and the mechanical vibrations of the system also.... What i called the three working dimensions of control for any audio system... But the acoustic is by far the most important one...
Then how do i choose speakers?
I dont know save for reading reviews and listening to them to eliminate the worst speakers and with luck stumble on a good one... This is the bad news.... The good news is that we can manage acoustically any relatively good speakers and put them on another level completely, on their own unknown peak working potential level of S.Q. with acoustic treatment and mechanical acoustic control...
My method is new and because i am not an acoustician i devised it by a trial and errors process on few years... I can describe the general recipe but i cannot replace the necessary long listening tuning process which is necessary to adapt to specific ears specific room to specific speakers by a magic formula...
Another aspect was that i modefied my Mission Speakers for the best with succees mechanically, with my own method of vibrations control with two set of 4 strings boxes at low cost dissymetrically compressed under and above the speakers under a heavy load of concrete...
I even use my "golden plate" device to modify the speakers, decreasing some noise of the electronics or coming from the cables ( shungite plate +copper tape on the external face)
And i used Helmholtz resonators near the drivers and the tweeters of each speakers but with diffferent H.R. for each speakers to make a better response for each one of my ears and brain when it compute the room distance...
I used 23 tubes of different size and lenght for each speakers and in the porthole and above the speakers to modify the velocity shear flow around the speakers and completely improve the imaging and timbre...
All my room is already under control with more than 50 tubes of different size, absorbing and diffusing resonators, which i adjusted by listening mechanically for their aperture and lenght and volume...
I know it is not easy and simple process but it is not so difficult that it seems if someone dare to try trusting his own skill for learning and training our ears which is the most fun experience i ever lived through.... Cost : almost nothing....
Then i apologize for not answering simply to the question : how do i choose my speakers?
But if even Floyd Toole cannot answered it simply i could not too....
I have said the essential i know of...
The one line answer is:
There is no relation between the S.Q. of a relatively good speakers BEFORE and AFTER acoustic treatment and control...We must read about and listen if possible to some speakers, buy them and AFTER THAT adapt the room to them... There is no other way for me...
No speakers will work the same in some nude room, their response will depend of the room response linked to them also, will depend of the high level or not of the passive treatment and and especially of the mechanical control settings of the room adapted for them and your own specfic ears structure and skills...
Small room acoustic is a very new field and no so much well understood practically because each speakers, each acoustic content, geometry, and topology for each room is very different... Then putting some acoustic panels at the right spot like most did and bass traps will help but it is a long shot from what i called mechanical control equalization of the room with Helmholtz method...
I apologize for not giving a simple recipe and simple answer ...I can only point to the right direction... And it is more easy that it seems it ask for a dedicated room yes and for plenty of time...But nothing is more fun to do...
A dedicated room is really the only luxury in audio, those who boast about costly gear are ignorant of acoustic for me like reviewers selling gear and not acoustic information with it...
But no one can make big money with acoustic... Only with upgrading the gear...
All audio is consumerism conditioning more than science...