Thank you Russ.

Hey Michael, couldn't agree more. I buy more music than the average punter and have the Amazon and HD Tracks bills to prove it. The point here is this: I know a lot of our customers are selling off their CDs after they have ripped them to their computers. So they have bought their music, the question is do they still have the right to use those ripped files after having sold off the CD and had some money back in return?

You are welcome Steve. I'm sure that there's a download somewhere online. :)

@Yo Russ. Eloquently put. At my age, I still feel intimidated by retailers (of any product) who fail to listen to what I am saying so I prefer the internet model and accept the sound unseen (heard) consequences though I base decisions on (as best I can tell) unbiased reviews. Though not an audio thing really, Verizon are my biggest hate. They send mail saying how delighted they are to be of service and they don't even answer the question. It's bizarre. Going back to Cox when we move house even if its a bit slower. Didn't have a single complaint in 5 years and with Verizon it's non-stop! They have single-handedly made me a grumpy old man! One thing I am likely to do, is to trust the folks here if I need advice and I'd be happy to purchase from folks who are linked here based on the assertions of fellow Evites. There is a certain integrity which seems to pervade this site that has no equal.

"To me the nomenclature of colored means the true timber of an instrument or brand of instrument is somehow homogenized and those differences in timbre are lost. " This is all true - from a listener's perspective you are hearing alot more of this so called 'homogenization' than the specs could ever tell you. The layers of degradation with speakers roughly fall into the categories listed here and whereas amplifier specs more or less tell you what is going on. speaker specs do not for the reason that you are talking about the conversion of electrical to acoustic energy and how the speaker interacts with the room. Here goes: ·Loss of transients (blunted leading edge of notes/waveforms) ·Distortion (inter-modular and harmonic) ·Unwanted Resonance (driver hangover, cabinet panel and cavity resonances) ·Loss of coherence (filtering, phase and timing errors, unwanted interference patterns, diffraction effects around the edges of the front baffle) ·Loss of low-level detail (low-volume background detail such as ambience and harmonics, inaccurate waveform reproduction with extreme waveforms) ·Non-optimal dispersion (deviation from the optimum at any part of the spectrum) ·Volume compression (loss of volume peaks) ·Frequency compression (loss at the extreme ends of frequency spectrum) ·Response smoothness (peaks and troughs in frequency curve) To complicate matters. Yes it is almost always the case that 2 speakers that measure the same in anechoic conditions will measure differently in a room due to the particular way they react with said room. There are many design considerations that can reduce these interactions, however, and make them more manageable. Out of all these degradations there are some that the brain can cope with, and indeed will adapt to to some extent, particularly the last two, and these are the two also most effected by the room. The rest are irreversible (even by electronic means) and they can all severely compromise the listening experience. Put simply speakers are a devil to choose, and then you have to make sure they work well in your environment. Like people say here the best approach if you do't know much about the technology is to simply have some internal benchmark based on your best expectations of real music and use this as a guide. There is very little 'uncoloured' guidance apart from your own understanding of the science and your own ears. Clearer guidance and a degree of electro-acoustic education I think would definitely lead to less coloured speakers. Kevin