1. Most listening is late night when the family is asleep - probably 90-93db. I know the 4W SET i plan to use will push seven pi's much louder than this, but will they still sound good at a fraction of a watt or do the drivers really need more power to "wake up"?

2. Is the quality difference between the jbl and eminence 15" perceptable at less than a watt or a few watts, or do they really sound the same until you are well over 100db? From what I gather the eminence goes lower but has more distortion and a less refined high end than the jbl - is the difference in quality - bass cutoff aside - really noticeable?

3. I love the magnepan's great imaging, depth and layering of the sounds - so will I hate corner horns? Listening to magnepans is like watching a movie - all the action is between the speakers and the wall behind them (or even much further - sometimes very spooky). This effect isn't always welcome though - I feel like I'm on the outside of a window looking in with magnepans (and pretty much any other decent box speaker setup I've ever heard) and never like I'm in the middle of the action. Placing speakers directly into corners seems a little funny to me but maybe I've been brainwashed with the concept that speakers need to be pulled out into the room - away from rear walls and side walls - to sound best wrt imaging, etc. I know the corner is required to form the bass horn, but is at the expense of imaging, depth, etc.?