What's the most important speaker attribute...and

Midrange, if it ain't right nothing can possibly be.

I use the LS3/5a's on the side along with another full range speaker and for the price and size it would be very hard to beat. It is a good speaker to use for reference to evaluate other speakers midrange as well. Sure there may be others which may have a better midrange but one has to dish out a lot.

To each his own!

The most important aspect is that you like the sound of them and can listen to them for long periods. Flat frequency response over as wide a range of frequencies is important also. Look for bass extension to at least 40 Hz. Decent speakers and good electronics make for a system that is a pleasure to listen to. Go out and audition as much as you can with music you own and take notes. Have fun while you do this too!

Tonal accuracy, as most say in one way or another, and especially in the midrange, as Scott says, is certainly the first thing to get right. For me, though, low distortion is more important. Almost all speakers make a lot of noise and have much higher levels of distortion than electronic components. Driving the distortion level down helps to make voices sound like real life by eliminating the sonic products that you wouldnt hear in an unamplified live performance, like, e.g., material coloration from almost all cone drivers.

Hi, Paul:

Our posts are not in conflict with each other -- accurate mid-range reproduction means, ipso facto, that the distortion is very low. Otherwise, the mid-range ain't accurate...

You are quite correct that distortion is far higher in speakers than other audio components, but since speakers are transducers, there will always be some inherent non-linearity. I personally think that time- and phase-accurate speakers sound better, assuming their drivers are of high quality, than speakers that are not, and they often have the virtue of lower distortion as well.

Well, I didnt think I was disagreeing with you in any material respect, but it depends on how you define accuracy. It is possible to measure a speaker's frequency response, and get a flat reponse, but still have high levels of distortion. Of course, you can include low distortion in your definiton of of accuracy, but I think it best to keep the concepts distinct.

Take a look at the measurements of the Mirage MRM-1 at soundstage.com, equipment archives, loudspeakers,and scroll down, or just try this url

http://www.soundstagemagazine.com/measurements/mirage_mrm1/

Not real flat, but not a bad frequency response, yet, to me, unacceptable levels of noise and distortion in the bass (where almost all speakers have a problem) and midrange. No real correlation with the FR, they are separate measurements.

I know from personal experience that when I play a 50hz tone through my Harbeths, I hear a 50 hz tone coming out of them. No audible distortion. But when I play the same tone through a pair of AE Aegis Ones, a pretty good little $300/pair speaker, though the spl meter reads about the same, I hear something that sounds more like 58-60 hz because the output includes the fundamental plus some doubling and other distortion components.

The reason I say low distortion is more important is that we adjust to different tonal balances in different venues all the time, so moderate FR inaccuracies are not always troubling (some are), but distortion is always annoying. A frequency response inaccuracy means the notes are played a little too loud or a little too soft (if in the fundamentals part of the midrange). You may not notice, or may not care. But distortion means the wrong note.