Thanks a lot to everyone for the informative responses. To answer you question Fzxguy, I listen to contemporary and old school jazz, acoustical, and almost any great vocalist or for that matter, any great recording.
I listen at moderate volume, unless I want to feel like I am at a concert then I crank it up.
I like music to sound like music, especially timbre, and realistic midrange. I will not go as far to say that I am a tube or solid state guy. However, The best system I've heard to date consisted of Martin Logan CLS 2, Kinergetic subs, Theta, and Audio Research front end. That was 10 years ago. Since then, I've listened to an all digital Meridian system and some others, but I still like the ML setup better. I am a sucker for a great midrange. I have the utmost respect for Mark Levinson and his products and B&w, but I recently listened to the highly acclaimed Revel F-30's, and some B&W 801's and I thought that something was wrong with me. How could the 4k Maggies sound more realistic, at least to me than both of these speakers? Both were mated with Levinson gear.
Observations like this is why I posted my question in the first place. I am not an expert in home audio as most of you guys/gals are. My background started managing a high-end car audio shop where in most cases if you combined top flight equipment you would always get great results. It is so much different with home audio. There is so much to be said about Synergy and how it applies to high end audio
