Originally Posted by rblnr
Also considering coming back to M obviously and maybe Classe. Very tough to audition this stuff in a legitimate way.

Agreed, the general decline of specialty audio/video shops has made it very difficult to borrow componenents and demo them in your own listening environment - plus these hi-end processors are so tricky to setup properly that a demo becomes problematic. Trying to hear the small differences when comparing equipment across multiple listening rooms (IMO the effect of the room dwarfs differences in component performance) makes an objective assessment impossible.

As sacreligious as this may seem, I think one really ends up picking based on things like pricing deals, unique features (i.e. Trifield), and company stability - rather than sound differences. It is atually shocking how many times I have bought an expensive piece of equipment without ever actually having heard it!

Last edited by Simon; 2008-09-12 12:42.
My Kit: 861v8+ID41, 800v4, UHD722, MD600, MS600, MS200, Oppo BDP-203, Genesis 201, Genesis 350 SE, Genesis S4-8 Sub, BG 520i, VTL MB450 II, Krell Showcase 7, Genesis 928 Subs, Danley DTS10 sub, SVS Ultra 16 subs.