The business would not be the same without him. He certainly has opinions on gear, but most of them I don't agree with. I remember he famously threw a tantrum because JA wasn't going to give a very expensive tube ($250k!) amp a class "A" rating after JA had found that it missed all of it's stated measuments by a LARGE margin, had a huge amount of distortion at anything more than just a few watts, and had an output impedence so high that it would swing the speakers +/- 10dB! Mikey just LOVED it though!! Sure, he's into excitment. Amps that are dead flat with no ringing or overshoot and with enough damping to control his puppies leave him feeling flat. Doesn't surprise me in the slightest.