AJ: I'm not sure if I buy you're argument. If I follow you, CD's, portable music etc. was driven by the "non-audiophile market". I'll think about this statement but will state immediately that these markets were driven by the availablility of transistors, which made it possible to "do more with less". Add to that research done in psychoaccoustics, the need for creating huge watt-hungry amps and speakers "the size of barnyard doors" was no longer dictated. You still make an interesting point, and I will ponder it some more....

Your position is an intriguing one as well, Mr. P. I am not sure if I agree with it altogether, though. Years ago I had a pair of Heresies that I drove with a Yamaha M2 amp and C2a preamp. It was a very good sound, but fatiguing in the end, when I traded them in for tube gear. At the same time that I bought the Heresies, various friends bought other models of Klipsch speakers, including LaScalas, Cornwalls, Belles and Horns, each of which was driven by respectable amps etc. They sounded very impressive, albeit fatiguing. In retrospect, I am stuck with the burning question: Am I just smitten by the tubes, or were the speakers actually as fatiguing as I thought they were? In future, I will probably return to the tubes. When that happens, you'll know, and hopefully some of this mystery'll be cleared up....