Some speakers are subjectively more preferred than others. The difference may not be as significant as some people believe. One reason is that most of us compare speakers by memory and from different rooms, setups, placements, time. It may not be a fair comparison. There are a lot of great sounding monitors & towers out there if you have great subs.
I can vouch for Salk/ Philharmonic speakers. But I think most KEF, NHT, Focal, Revel, etc, are great sounding as well.
A lot of people also think B&W, DefTech/ GoldenEar, Klipsch speakers sound great.
So many great sounding speakers out there. Just as long as you have the great subs.