David-the reason it wasn't scientific was the fact you kept taking off cloths to get an "unvarnished sound", and you felt silly because you woke up with a hang over and wearing your girlfriends underwear!!(and you weren't even drinking!) :) sorry I felt obligated to tell them all the truth. FWIW I use spades for piece of mind, I heard a bunch of manufacturer's making fun of people who use banana's, they even had some sort of anti-banana "song" so to speak and all knew the words and were singing it, though I think they may have been drinking :) I find that what the people say who make the gear tends to give the best results, as with most things, not exclusive to audio.
Tim
Tim