i will share my monitor story:
i own a pair of behringer truths with the 8" woofers. i've had them for years. in my old space - a large, basically empty living room in open floorplan house - i had bass traps set on the floor (half-height on the wall) in 3 of the corners and one against a wall opposite my recording space. i would mix and mix on the "truths" (hours, days), and found that the mixes translated poorly on my stereo (in the same room), in my car and on my headphones. these terrible, cheaply made monitors were ruining my life! i finally gave up on mixing and concentrated on writing, singing and playing.
then i got married, moved and ended up putting my studio in a tiny 9x10 bedroom. i dragged in my bass traps and equipment, got some sound/light absorbing curtains, some artwork, and kept my wife's "idea board" because somehow it made an audible reduction in the room's flutter echo characteristics. having no other room, i stacked the bass traps on top of each other (floor to ceiling, and with such a short ceiling the bottom trap is at a slight angle). i set up my "truths" on their mopads and continued not to record.
one day, inspiration struck and i put a song together - wrote it in a couple hours and laid down the tracks in a couple more (2 takes of vocals total). since i was writing it for my wife, i had to get it at least presentable. so i prepared myself for endless hours mixing, referencing (stereo now in another room), mixing, cursing, etc.
instead i spent perhaps 4 hours total mixing it until i was happy with it because no matter where i played it, it sounded basically the same. phone speaker to home theater system.
what are the 3 most important things to consider when buying a pair of monitors?
your room, your room, and your room.