How does this make sense, any sense? Any sense at all??

where are the Big Room people listening?

In the large listening rooms I have set up or listened in, the listening distances may be the same or a little greater then tooms you are used to. But listening to a small speaker, even at 9' away in a large space, is very different then listening to the same speaker in a large space. All speakers play with the room. Small rooms can be overloaded with sound (energy). Larger rooms can be underloaded(?), whereas there the room itself is damping the sound by the lack of reflection.

That’s not possible the ls 50 is very good for a under $2k speaker granted, but the drivers are night and day better on their reference models ,as well as much more robust for added SPZl levels ,
whoever put Thst together was smoking someth8ng good ,please remember too , these writers are making a general assessment
not in absolute terms ,the speakers may be on the same team ,
but are not the All Stars.  I have read many references through the year in class A-C categories that I totally disagreed with ,thy will sell 50 LS50 monitors for every 1 shasha,or Ref5 sold ,plenty of a Volume sales in that marketing pitch.Please also remember magazines make NO money selling their magazines ,it is by a long margin the Adverts and recommendations that pay the saleries .   A full page ad maybe $3-5k.
when I owned a Audiostore 12 years ago I was paying a grand for a half page ad. Magazines or reviews are just a guide if you see several good reviews from different sourses Thst holds much more weight and your ears are by far your best guide to the synergy in your system,too many variables I have seen reviews and comparisons with different cables being used to review equipment that is just Plain Stupid  so compare and view equipment being used  Synergy is most important in Your system.

audioman58...I can hear your third grade English teacher crying....

The trouble with stereo equipment reviews is that they are not blind reviews. The reviewer knows the brand and price before they sit down to listen. I would like to see a blind review from one of the Stereophile reviewers of several amps, speakers and DACs. I would think you would see a real jump in the quality ratings of some of the lower priced audio gear, especially speakers.

Yeah, right, like he’s really going to be impressed by the brand or the price.