whats the finest recorded cd you've heard?

Dreadhead, play around with speaker positioning a little more. The dog should be more like 50 feet to the left (right on my set up) of the speaker. I only discovered this after buying a laser measuring tool and getting my speakers precisely placed. Prior to this exercise the dog wasn't even 3 feet outside the speaker. It freaked me out once I got the positioning right. I'm fond of Lyle Lovett's older CD's for recording quality. Try Pontiac or Joshua Judges Ruth.

Agree that Amused is a novelty, but the dog barking way outside the speakers does confirm, IMHO, proper speaker placement. I used a Stanley FatMax ($80 or so)for measuring. My method was based on that in Jim Smith's Get Better Sound - establish a center line and make sure both speakers are precisely the same distance away. The trick is getting the front and rear distances right, given differences due to toe-in. I found a 3/4" error in my eye ball placement kept the dog bark almost inside the right speaker. After adjustment it was way, and I mean way to the right. Interestingly, the liner notes on Amused say if you don't hear the dog way out right, your speakers are out of phase. I believe it is more a positioning issue. Hope this helps.

Jax2, buy the FatMax, you'll use it for regular home projects also. The book is very good, although one will argue the it is simply the combined wisdom of this and other forums. I like the glossary - now I know what all these audiophile words mean! Yes, small differences make a difference - surprised the hell out of me!

Here is the link to the one I purchased:

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200320449_200320449

Dreadhead, hard to tell anymore without balance controls!