I agree with you Jperry. I have heard Aesthetix at Johnny's a couple of times and it was on the Vandy 7's. Sounded just awesome. Also heard the AR stuff on them and they too sounded great. Two different sounds. Most could live with either.
The Quick is sold (now he has 2 sets of Proacs and the Quick Silver mono's to sell). It will be interesting since he can put KT 88's, 120's or 150's into the SilverMonos for those who need more and more power. I would love to hear the differences other than more power. The original amps sounded really great vs the AR stuff considering they were half the cost.
After reading threads and research, I'd stay away from any of the Counterpoint stuff. I have seen the prices for the modded out gear that fixes the problems, but for that cost, I can get new that sounds amazing or used from AR or Jadis that rocks too. JMHO. I have enjoyed the Aesthetix gear as I"ve posted in the past. Tubes are just an interesting breed as they always sound different in different amps. I'm just not into the tube rolling deal like so many are. Knock yourselves out. I think at this point in my life, I just want stable, easy to maintain equipment that sounds awesome and it's the price of a foreign sports car.