Thanks for the thoughtfull reply. Not to beat a dead horse but I do believe in a reference standard. When good equipment is playing in a room you know it immediately; and most of those who take this seriously tend to agree on whether a system sounds good; not necessarily on whether it is their personal favorite, but on the fact that it does sound good. That is the reason I believe that some eqiupment tends to stay popular for many many years, even after the marketing dept. is long gone. As for my malady, how do you explain all those people who can discriminate between the sound of different wooden guitar bodies; is that not a physiological response? Do you imply that what they are percieving has a determination component or some kind of intellectually motivated choice? Double-blind testing is a fallacy anyway; which of course you know. The pshycological paradigm infects all aspects of acoustics logically reverting opinions to personal experience. Just one mans opinion. But I will admitt to; upon hearing the tones of bass fiddle flattened out by cheap electronics even from another room it does get irritating. The position that there is no basis for comparison due to differing perceptions works both ways; and my bewilderment probably would equal your own at the exposure to alternate playback systems of less than competant ability.( Thats ability I refer to; not price or exorbitant extortion.) As you can guess this is an important subject to me and I appreciate you taking the time to discuss it; J.R.