KC_Mike,
While I applaud your efforts to do a controlled comparison, you absolutely must measure the total SPL using pink noise with a Sound Level Meter, and calibrate the volume levels to a fraction of a dB. Moreoever, you must conceal the speakers with a visually opaque but acoustically transparent curtain.
In the 25 years I've done double-blind A/B listening tests, if these testing protocols are not followed, you will always choose the louder speaker (and louder by 0.5 dB even if they subjectively sound the same volume) as the "better." Likewise if you know which speaker is which, it's uncanny how psychological biases will cause you to pick the speaker you "think" you like more. Furthermore, differences in the two speakers locations in a given room will result in different ratings because of placement differences and room effects. I can assure that even seasoned professionals like Dr. Floyd Toole (with whom I served on many listening panels) have documented the biases that result from non-blind listening. In our tests, each speaker was rotated into different listening locations, as each listener sits in different chairs in the room, so that each speaker has been auditioned in several locations by the same listeners, in each of four different chairs. This effectively removes the variables of room placement which, in a simpler test, may cause you to choose one speaker over the other.
Failure to observe these testing protocols reduces the results to anecdotal data.
Regards,
