My idea of laid back vs forward:
Laid back would be more relaxed - particularly in the upper mids being the same or less then the lower mids, perhaps a more distant sound, perhaps a bit warmer, and generally a bit darker.
Forward is the opposite - more upper mids. Makes for a more harsh, edgy sound, particularly human voice. Klipsch speakers generally have a very forward sound IMO - love it or hate it. A lump in the mids somewhere could make a headphone or speaker sound more forward because it makes something more prominent.
Generally to me bumps are much more audible the dips in the frequency spectrum - if upper mids are recessed it will make less of a difference then if they are loud, harsh, and edgy.
If you have a best buy around, I would reccomend checking out some of the computer speakers there if you still don't know what I am talking about.
Most of the computer speakers they sell have a rather forward sound, but the Klipsches moreso then the others. Just turn em up a bit and see how they sound (The Klipsches have prominent upper mids and treble and less lower mids then say my Celestions) The sound will really jump out at you at first.
The larger Bose speakers exhibit a similar type of sound - the bigger bookshelves like the 301s and the towers too. Yuck.
There are a couple laid back sets they usually have though. One is one of the Altec Lansing sets, the sattelites are about the same size as the Klipsch ones, but are blue or gray or something, and they are more like boxes then formed speakers (Whereas the ATP3 and some of the other newer ones have stick like sattelites).
The Altecs that have the bigger boxy sattelites have a more laid back sound (Also be sure to make sure the sub is around 1/5 volume, most people turn it to max when they listen to them).
And if you are up for a laugh, the next time you are in a Circut City if at all, take a look at some of the computer speakers they have there. In particular, look at the CyberAcoustics speakers, and see the cheapest 2.1 set. I always crack up when I see it, and laugh out loud when I hear it. Every time. It is an anemic little "flat panel" system that has nothing going for it. The sattelites sound like tin cans, and the bass extention of the sub is, umm, pathetic. It is a 3". Yes, 3 inch speaker, it is in a tiny little box, and the driver is at the bottom of the cabinet. It distorts badly once you hit audible volume levels. A 3" subwoofer. Id bet a 4", 5W RMS Radio Shack midrange speaker would do the job a lot better. But the funniest thing of all, the power LED on this speaker setup dims whenever some "bass" plays. I was entranced by this piece of crap for like 10 minutes by how completely crappy it was. (The setup sounds about as good as my HD600s, from 2 feet away, and not much louder, and no, I don't do drugs). A salesperson came over and asked if I needed help and I showed him the speakers I was laughing at, and even he got a good chuckle out of the LED thing.
Just a a silly reminder that not everyone has audio equipment anywhere near on par with us, even my modest computer setup is better then what most people have in their home stereo.
Edit: Humm, you live in Hong Kong - I don't know what you guys have for chain retailers that have computer speakers, but if you have heard Klipsch speakers you have probably heard a very forward sounding speaker. I was trying to make the computer speaker comparison because they are easy to find and make a quick demo of at a store, and I know the basic sound of a lot of them fairly well.
