Quote Originally Posted by tube fan
I am referring to both type of tests. Say compare various Quad speakers with a Quad 57; compare various Magnepan speakers, 1.6, 1.7, 3.6, and 20.1; compare various Audio Note speakers (these differ wildly in price).
The NYT's Robin Goldstein conducted hundreds of blind wine tests. The Beringer $11 Cab outscored their $120 Private Reserve Cab. The same thing would happen in blind listening tests IMO.

As for speakers in a type A test I would like to hear: Magnepan 1.7, The old and new Gallo speakers, the Audio Note J and E ($7500 version), DeVore speakers ($3700 Gibbon, $16,800 Silverback Reference, and $6500 Gibbon 9), Teresonic Ingenium Silver with more expensive ones: Vandersteen Model seven, Wilson Maxx and Sasha, Magico V5 or 3. Many lists could be as good.

I think it will be very easy to detect a difference between different speaker lines. Comparing an Audio Note J or E (any model at any price) versus a Magnepan (any model) versus a Vandersteen (any Model).

It would be more difficult to detect differences between the models of a given line - perhaps depending on the music played. But an E or 20.1 has more bass than a J or 3.6 and if it is blind level matched and you play bass you will detect the difference - if you don't play bass it may become more difficult because the same general technology is used. But in the case of Audio Note - they use different tweeters and different woofers. So in some cases you are paying more for a Higher High Efficiency driver to make it more usable for lower powered amps - it may not really be a very big improvement in sound over the non HE version. But once the dollars start to rise some of it becomes bragging rights over actual sound quality benefits and one has to truly temper their ability to spend with what they're actually getting. Still, to people very very familiar with the house sound of a product line then they will arguably hear more improvement in the $50k version of the speaker over the $10k version more than someone who is not nearly as familiar with the products.