Is More watts better?

[Feanor]

...

So here is my proposal.

Room A has a Bryston 3B - SST2 which measures about as good as it gets and is a pro amp - used with a Harman International Approved 2 way box (Revel). And Bryston's CD players.

Room B - Audio Note level 2 with AN J speakers.

Bring in the musicians and see where the chips fall.

The stereo will be blacked out via black light - no one sees the stereo in the room.

Both rooms play a CD with 20 cuts. They play at the same time and both rooms play at the exact same volume level. Each listener gets a card and they drop the card in the box of the room they feel recreates instruments and voices correctly. It is worded this way as opposed to "which room do you like best" - it is worded "which room recreates instruments and voices correctly.".

Bring it on. I'd be happy to participate or observe.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the musicians selected that AN room, but then it is still a matter of preference, not accuracy.

Reference to "live sound" is dubious, relying as it does on people's recollection of many live performances in different venues. Such recollections are naturally tend to be romanticized -- a combination of poor memory and good imagination.

A better test (of amplifiers) would be to play good recordings through a good amplifier (doesn't matter what kind) to good speakers, say high-quality studio monitors. Then pull the original amp and replace with the test amps. All this under blind conditions. The winner would be the test amp that delivers the sound most like the original amp. {EDIT} Sorry, the original amp must stay in the circuit somehow, otherwise the test amp that sounds most like the original will be the one that sounds most like the original. Dah! But the principle remains that the valid test of accuracy is the amp that modifies the signal the least. {/EDIT}