Part of that is because you are not trying to describe what you heard to others.
You've discussed the importance of getting the proper configuration (position, lean in, etc) of these speakers. If all you did was sit and listen, how do you know if you are hearing a speaker at its best?
I've already discussed the results of "just sat and put on some music". But "do I like it" is only one of the several questions in front of me. My experience with the Europa's in a large room vs near-field is, for example, very different.
Like all bookshelves (and most towers) there's limited bass response in the Europa's. In fact, the floor is higher than I think any other bookshelf I have (would have to check on the PSB's). As such, without a subwoofer that's been properly setup for them, they will sound inferior to other bookshelves due to poorer bass response.
That would be a "didn't like the bass", but might also be unfair. Since any bookshelf would have to integrate with a sub: I might dismiss an otherwise good speaker for a fixable problem.
This is particularly important (in my mind) when dealing with speakers that are "different". If I compare two 2nd order 2-way monopolar bookshelves with similar frequency ranges then it's pretty easy. (well, less hard).
But say I throw in an omni-polar and listen: and there's a real sonic problem area behind the speaker (where the monopolar didn't hit except at low frequencies), or I put in a planar speaker but then place it too close to a wall.
No.
I actually just finished some HT listening on the Europas. I'm still needing to setup 2.1 to retry music listening.
