Do you play an instrument? Helps in speaker eval?

Too long and maybe off topic response alert: I've been a musician forever and think it's sort of strange that most musicians don't become audio geeks, so in that sense they resemble actual people. Also, sound is a personal perception thing...my acoustic guitars sound different in my hands than in somebody elses (you can't even count electrics as a reference), and the "piano in the room" (I have one in my listening room) reference exists only relative to wherever you sit...I mic live pianos at jazz shows (lately gigantic Steinways) by sticking a great condensor mic facing the soundboard with the lid open...and nobody actually listens to a piano like that, unless they got stuck in it somehow (you often hear pounding from 'em if the lid's shut...usually well after the party ended). Is the reference a live instrument in an acoustically dead space? If so that is not good as it's creepy and lacks life, and a reverberant live setting isn't your house. I think opinions of musicians may be useless (except mine of course), and if it sounds good to you, it's good, because it doesn't sound exactly like that to anybody else. So the answers are yes and maybe.

I hear differences in cables, etc. in my tweaked and fussed over hifi, and the system is revealing enough to notice gigantic differences among all recordings...I doubt this is from a lifetime of playing music and hearing shows, it's more about listening closely and giving a crap. I'm sensitive to bad live acoustic guitar sound because it bugs me, so I've been on a never ending search for an acoustic pickup system that I like (I've owned too many that are just "OK")...and recently found one that feels good (LR Baggs "Anthem"). I think my experience just makes me more pissed when I'm listening to a show where the sound sucks, or a lame stereo someplace.

I have a thing for cool sounding recorded drums. There, I said it. Also, have you ever listened to a recording a Respected Reviewer used while reviewing speakers or whatever in $300,000 worth of gear, and hear all the same things on your more modest rig? I have...and it's comforting. If anything, a musician might notice things when they're "right" mostly from years of trying to avoid "wrong."