Assuming good quality speakers, whether planar or "box," and good electronics, much depends on the accoustical properties of your room. I had Quad 57's, then went to Quad ESL-63s in a very large room. The arrangement of furniture in our livingroom, as largely decided by my wife, forced me to sit about eighteen feet from the speakers. There was an extremely narrow "sweet spot," and if I moved my head relatively slightly, the sound was degraded. I wanted to switch to large Soundlabs, which have better dispersion (as well as other benefits), but my wife vetoed the idea, on the ground that the Soundlabs were too large for where they would be placed. We agreed on acceptable dimensions, and I spent about six months in search of speakers. I finally bought Sonus Faber Amatis, which produce great sound even in my accostically challenged environment. And my wife has received so many compliments on their appearance that she alsmost thinks of them as her choice.
