I felt the same way when I went to Japan. There is a huge supply of HiFi there--real HiFi! I was pissed when I saw JBL stuff there that was incredible that I've never seen or heard of here. Those TAD speakers are special too! Your right about most Americans. My friends can't hear the difference between my stereo and the ones you can get at the mass market midfi super centers. Usually they prefer the MidFi due to its minisculty or psuedo contemporary design! In Japan the living quarters are not really suitable for large speakers--but they must still sell a lot of them. Just go to Akihabara and see how many places sell them. We have all this space in this country, but for some reason we (except for the few) don't care to put it to good use.Sorry for my little fit--it just drives me crazy.