hello everyone,

i am the individual who offered to host this INFORMAL comparison...

first off, i'd like to thank curtis and Axiom for making the comparison possible...

secondly, i'd like to thank each one of you for reading my review.

now i've read all of the replies that there were paid schills and inherent biases and what not and would like to address some of these things.

i did say in my write up and will repeat once again that everything i shared was MY PERSONAL OPINION. nothing more, nothing less...i also told folks to take everything with a BIG GRAIN OF SALT...why? because i know i like smooth yet detailed sounding speakers...

in reply to those who have insinuated that some of the attendees including myself might be paid schills...i can tell you that i am not. whether you believe it is up to you...based on my interactions with curtis, i do not believe he is a schill either as he has told me and posted that he is still learning alot about this wonderful hobby. a schill would know how to setup his speakers to sound better than the rest...curtis did not handle any of the speaker placement and yes, each speaker was placed in the EXACT same location to minimize variables. sa-dono is not a paid schill...he doesn't own Rockets and is still waiting for his Reference speakers...shokunin is not a paid schill...he doesn't own any of the budget branded speakers and preferred the Ascends...bioforce is not a paid schill...he is a dealer of other brands of speakers and like shokunin, found the Ascend sound more to his liking...panofka is not a paid schill...he doesn't own any speakers at this time and came over hoping to gain some direction on his decision...

regarding partiality to one's own speakers? i can only address this by saying that i am a former owner of Polk, Def Tech, Wharfedale, Thiel, Dynaudio, Acoustic Energy and other speakers...if i was partial to my own speakers, i'd still be listening to my Polks...no need to upgrade if i was so accustomed to picking speakers i own.

in reply to the metallic, tinny sound that emanates from metal tweeters...i've auditioned Revel and Aerial speakers, both of which use metal tweeters and did not find them to be metallic sounding...both of these offer LOADS of detail yet do not sound "bright" to my ear...

so i encourage you all to take our opinions at face value...they are simply our PERSONAL OPINIONS...nothing more, nothing less...