Confusion on Monitors' Purpose

[Paul D]

I'm in the process of looking to buy my first pair of studio monitors. I read Dragon's article on tips for buying monitors. He stated that studio monitors don't emphasize frequencies at either end of the spectrum as "listening speakers" do. The flat-frequency response makes sense, but if listening speakers emphasize lower and higher frequencies, wouldn't this make getting a mix to "sound" good difficult if using monitors that do not emphasize these high/low ends? I must admit, going to a local music store and auditioning some of these monitors (Tannoy Reveal, JBL 6208, Event Project and Triamp system) with music which I was familiar with (including things I recorded with a VS-880, which I knew didn't sound good..."muddy" through most listening speakers) was difficult for me. I was trying to listen for clarity, they all seemed to sound clear (overall) to me, but they all sounded good, even my not-good recording sounded clearer than I knew it really was. I know my listening skills need to be developed, but this audition really confused me, as it didn't seem to reveal (at least in my recording's case) obvious flaws. Any comments/thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. Paul