I mix with a pair of [link|http://www.mackie.com/products/hr824/|Mackie HR824's].
They are "neutral" - dead flat in response from something like 20->22kHz.
They are active monitors - the amp is built into the speaker. Thus, it is a reference monitor/speaker combo working together. It does you no good to tweak a speaker unless you are tweaking it on the amp that is going to be used to drive it. Everything adds color - the key is to get the color filters to balance and become neutral.
Incidentally, these are not the most "pleasant" sounding speakers I have. Only the most accurate.
Audiophiles crack me up.
You should spend a bit of time in the studio watching a final mix-down. The engineer will typically listen to each track through reference monitors and work to produce the most realistic tone using eq/noise reduction/reverb etc. Once he has his palette established, he will rapidly switch between the lovely reference speakers, some big bertha "audiophile" types, a pair of cheapies (Auratone's - often called awful tones - basically car stereo speakers mounted in boxes), and maybe a set of walkman headphones. The idea is to get a good compromise so the piece sounds "decent" on all of the devices.
Thus, your "audiophile" experience is going to be riddled with artifacts imposed by the limitations of much lesser systems. If the engineer is any good, it will still sound great, but is definitely going to be sub-optimal and definitely not "true" reproduction.
Those "hand tweaked" speakers? Most likely rose colored glasses for you ears.