6550C, your approach is interesting but not, I think, without flaws. You really liked three very different pairs of speakers - SoundLab, Meridian and Mirage. They all must've had something in common in the way they presented music. Do you know what that was?
Altbrewer, I guess you are prepared to replace your amplifiers and cables to better match the speakers you very much like, just perhaps not right away. Because if not you will make your task even more difficult. Say, Revel and Sonus Faber are quite different. A number of years ago I heard both, near top of the line models, with different amplification and definitely preferred Revel. If I remember correctly, Revels were driven by Krell monoblocks and Sonus Faber by McIntosh. Revels had clarity, dynamics and balance. Sonus were too mellow and romantic and slow.
Altbrewer, I guess you are prepared to replace your amplifiers and cables to better match the speakers you very much like, just perhaps not right away. Because if not you will make your task even more difficult. Say, Revel and Sonus Faber are quite different. A number of years ago I heard both, near top of the line models, with different amplification and definitely preferred Revel. If I remember correctly, Revels were driven by Krell monoblocks and Sonus Faber by McIntosh. Revels had clarity, dynamics and balance. Sonus were too mellow and romantic and slow.
