Welcome to a wonderful hobby! Music can transform you, it can take you to a place where your soul speaks to you, and music well-rendered does this best. While live music is the "reference" that we aim for, it's often easier to listen deeply to recorded music, because your listening room is usually more conducive to relaxing and letting it happen than most live venues.
I've been involved in several different pursuits through the years, and it is my observations that audiophiles in general are exceptionally good people (despite the tube vs solid state, analog vs digital, etc. wars we wage). I think this is because they listen to a lot of music, and all that music has had its effect on them.
Imo a good loudspeaker must do two things: First, it must do something so well that you can close your eyes and suspend disbelief and be transported. That "something" can be timbre, imaging, dynamics, coherence, spaciousness, inner detail, whatever. Okay, that's the easy part.
The hard part is, the speaker must not then turn around and do something so poorly that it collapses the aforementioned illusion. Often a speaker is initially impressive, but becomes "fatiguing" to listen to after a while.
Specs can be of some use in helping you work up a shortlist, but specs are incomplete data at best, and "overly optimistic" at worst.
If you have access to a brick-and-mortar store, go there with your favorite CD's. Such stores are rare these days, and anyone still doing that is carrying brands that they really believe in.
To evaluate whether a speaker will be fatigue-free over the long haul, here are a couple of suggestions, once you've found a speaker or two that sounds good when you listen normally: Turn the volume level down very low, and see if it's still enjoyable. At very low levels, midrange colorations tend to stand out more, because they are not "balanced" so well by the bass and high treble, both of which are harder to hear at very low levels.
Next, turn the volume level up louder than normal, and walk outside the room. Listen through the open doorway, with no line-of-sight to the speakers. How close does it come to sounding like there's a live band in the room? A speaker that sounds good from outside the room is generally more likely to be long-term enjoyable than one that doesn't.
If you don't have a store within reasonable driving distance, consider attending an audio show. Also, see if there's an audio club in your area.
I know you wanted a list of brand names, but I'm not a good source of information on mainstream brands. I have too many biases, and many of the brands I like are pretty far off the beaten path. Okay, here's three that are fairly mainstream, and imo worth their asking price: Magnepan, Anthony Gallo, and Harbeth.
The path of the audiophile is a path of self-discovery, and this is the best time ever to be an audiophile, in part because this site makes it feasible to buy and sell used gear. It is very unlikely that your first speaker choice will be your last, so you'll probably make use of this site to make course-corrections as you learn more about what matters most to you, and what compromises you can live with to get it. (To paraphrase a line from the Princess Bride, speaker design is tradeoffs, highness. Anyone who says differently is in marketing.)
Don't be surprised if, during a late-night listening session, you hear that little inner voice pulling you to do something that uplifts and challenges you. Music makes it easier for that little voice to get through, and music well-rendered all the moreso.
Duke
dealer/manufacturer
