Which is better, a fussy speaker or a versatile one?

Speakers choices matter less in itself than their room coupling...I know that the OP know that perfectly well and his thread question is only a pretext for friendly discussion ... Thanks to him ...

We need to know the room and needs first ...

Do you listen only heavy metal and amplified rock show or classical quartet and jazz ?

Anyway i am no more an audiophile ...😊 Lesson learned ...

I listen music in a perfect for me low cost system/room ...

The only criteria to know if your choices of gear/room are right is simultaneous musical/sound ectasy ... You have it or not.... Simple ... It is impossible to upgrade after that MINIMAL threshold of satisfaction , save if you increase by one or many factor of ten the cost of your actual system ... Simple fact from my experience ...I suppose that you have already electrical,mechanical and acoustical workings done right ...Ectasy come only after that ...Ectasy may come without high end component only good one ...It is my case and no i am not deaf ....

I suppose we search for music acoustically well done in a system /room  not high component bragging ...

It depends. Are you a fussy audiophile or a versatile one?

What even is an "excellent room". That’s the most nebulous part of this abstract hypothetical. I find myself quite happy just avoiding obviously "terrible" rooms (also nebulous, but less so). I think a decent room can generally be made to shine with 2ch stereo, as long as you invest in careful setup and pick an appropriate size & spec of speaker to match room size.

But playing by the rules as you’ve posed - yeah I want NOTHING to do with any large & expensive "fussy" speakers. That just screams to me of some monstrosity with multiple cone drivers spread miles apart (incoherent sound), plus some crazy impedance / phase curve, wild frequency response, and a low efficiency that turns amp selection into some sort of Lord of the Rings style quest.

yes, but Eric is essentially proposing a million dollar system, so I'm assuming there will be professionals to take care of the room and all "fussy issues", making the judgement call irrelevant...

Why could which is "better' matter a whit?