Thanks for the responses. Yes I am relying on memory and the set up before was completey different. But....the sound is way different. So I don't think it's the room, components, wiring, etc...I think I'm trying to identify how to describe what I liked about the Adcom better. For example, the crunched guitars sounded much more pronounced. I think, in retrospect, it was a much "dirtier" sound. That have been what I liked. So would that sound be more related to better mids? It seems like to top is so soft on the Aragon. Almost like that part of the music that I liked isn't there anymore. Again, going from memory. The cd's I listen to are the exact same in most cases so I don't think it's the recording. Although the issue of loudness is interesting. I write and record music for fun and understand the concepts of compression, but never really thought of it that way. Most of what I record is electronic so I don't think compression plays the same role as live recordings, but I could be wrong. I guess it depends on the quality of the samples or plugin you're using.