Audiojoy - You are right about the high end missing the point about musicality. I came to this conclusion at last year's CES/THE show, where the vast majority of systems, regardless of price, had an excess of upper midrange energy and a lack of mid-upper bass energy.
The mention of a car radio is interesting, as I had an experiencethat bears this out. The BSO was featuring a deaf percussionist (Evelyn Glennie) one week a few years back. I heard / read good things about her, so I went. My seat was so bad, I didn't really enjoy the performance. I later bought the CD, and thought, unusual, but not great. I then heard her perform the same piece with the Detroit (or was it Minneapolis) symphony on NPR Radio, ov er the factory stock torn-up paper speakers in my 83 Ford Fairmont, and was spellbound. Somehow, the orchestra and Ms. Glennie just hit it off together, and their ability to make music came through even on a terrible system, and was more enjoyable than the OK performance on the CD played over a high-end system. I've wondered if the lack of enjoyment at Symphony Hall was really due to my bad seat, or if somehow, they just weren't pulling it together musically. The sound at Symphony Hall was certainly better, even from my seat above the right side of the stage.
