I find it most interesting that your perceptions and preferences are identical to mine. I like the solid precise imaging - for a while, but then it gets edgy to me. If I back up to take the edge off I still get a good imgage - not as precise, but far more listenable over the long term.

But from experince I have found that if new people come over, I had better put them in that nearfield prcise image or I don't get a "wow" out of them. Again, from my experience, good loudspeakers don't stand out. They don't jump at you and say "I'm great!" They just never get on your nerves. Kind of like the bar clown who you laugh at for the first 1/2 hour or so, but then you just want to get away from him - and usually can't. Good speakers are more like the quiet guy you sit next to and gradually get to know and find out that he's really well read, intelligent and worth listening to. You never find this out unless you take the time to get to know him.

I get down right annoyed when people listen to my speakers and have immediate comments. It takes me hours to decide on something like sound quality - how do they do it in minutes or seconds!?

Enough ranting.

Bye for now

Earl