I found selection of demo material/music a little misleading, at least for me. Lots of it was acoustic guitars, soft voices that sounded like they were recorded in a very intimate venue just after midnight, jazz, and such. It all sounded impressive at first, that is for sure, but did it really represent what is likely to play on those systems?
There was a room with, pricewise, modest equipment that was playing Dire Straits and bigger Daedalus room that played at least one Bruce Springsteen song. I saw a couple of records that might have been, but they were not playing. Only one room I walked in was playing classical music. One out of 85 (I think I did visit all rooms, many more than once). In one room, I asked a very friendly and polite man who was demoing if he could play some classical next. He happily obliged and we were treated to classical music. Well, it was a female singer with very soft background instruments. It must have been called "classical" but it really was not much different, as far as demoing equipment goes, from any jazz or acoustic music played in most of the rooms. My bad, I did not ask specifically for something a little different.
Out of all those systems, I could compare voices and hear fingers sliding on the guitar neck (that is what a man told us to focus on hearing) but have no idea how Symphony of a Thousand would sound on some undoubtedly high-end system.
Looking at other visitors, I got an impression that most were 40+, easily 50+. Do all of them listen to what was demoed there? Who bought all of those Michael Jackson and Elton John, albums? Not even Rolling Stones. And, beyond puzzling to me, I did not run into any room that played the Beatles. That is music everyone in that age group knows quite well and exists on good quality sound carriers.
