Disappointing Evening

In cases like this - the five minute demo with polite guests- you need to shock and awe. I just crank it and guests are totally amazed because it sounds just like a real live show.

Good quality sound is readily available everywhere at low volume levels.

People need to get over the fact that the entire industry has caught up with the 60's audiophile crowd (who at that time had a huge advantage over everyone else).

Today, I get great sound in the car and great sound from my desktop Genelec Active speakers when connected to my iPhone and playing 128 KBPS files (even cheap digital setups sound darn good compared in a way that cheap analog never did). I could even get great sound for much cheaper - a pair of Audioengine 5's for example.

What I am saying is that great sound is readily available to the masses!!!

And, you ain't going to impress any guest unless you can significantly trump what is easily available to everyone.

IMHO, the only way you will impress people is through a demonstration of high quality sound at live concert levels. This is where major differences can still be found between ordinary systems that sound like crap as soon as you increase the volume and audiophile quality reference systems. A high quality system that is capable of sounding like a live drum set will always amaze people because all ordinary systems give you nothing but distortion at anything approaching the proper levels of live instruments.

If you want guests to be impressed then I would suggest upgrading your equipment (primarily speakers). If you don't care what guests think then quit moaning.

Except if it is too loud you cannot converse with the guests so that does not work.

If you can converse then it is just background music,

For a jaw-dropping five minute demo it needs to be a lot more dynamic than people have ever heard from a home system.