I heard the B&W 800d's today

[Mr Peabody]

I like to bring some of my own discs because that's what I'm familiar with and one needs a point of reference. Nothing shows off the difference in a component like putting it your own system though.

I brought the Sheffield Labs James Newton Howard & Friends to a store one time and heard it played on a Rotel system. That's what formed my opinion of Rotel, finding them laid back and sluggish sounding. Anyone familiar with this disc should realize it is quite snappy and dynamic. So sometimes it is helpful to have your own point of reference. The salesman suggested that my equipment may have scued my opinion, that my gear was too fast. This CD was used by IASCA as a reference in car audio contests and used as a demo by many of my friends who are in audio sales and I'm reasonably sure this recording is snappy and dynamic.

I can also remember being in the shoes of the guy RGA described, the first time I walked into a truely high end audio store with my Great White CD and had the guy play it through a Krell system driving a $25k pair of Dynaudio speakers I remember thinking "where's the mid-bass, this isn't so great" and then the guy put the Paula Cole CD in, which I hadn't heard before, and the first track had some incredible low end, and my jaw dropped in amazement. I felt like an earthquake hit the building.

Flo- you and I must have totally different characteristics we listen for, you dislike 2 of my favorite brands, Dynaudio and Martin Logan.