I was listening to an old jazz recording via Pandora (paid version) the other day. There was a pronounced bass part (electric) in this particular piece and what stopped me in my tracks, and caused me to sit and listen, was a faint clicking sound that ran along with the bass line. I thought there was problem. Turns out what I was hearing was the bass players fingernails touching the strings as he plucked. Hoo-hah.

High efficiency Altecs allow all that detail to come through, but they also exaggerate any flaws or shortcuts taken in amplifier design. They will make a bad amplifier sound much worse by enhancing noise and/or distortion. On the other hand, they will make a good amplifer sound almost liquid.

Listening to music on this level is a skill. I am still learning. I still can't hear the diffence between lamp cord and $1800 speaker cables...let alone $1800 speaker cables that are suspended off the floor by little stands.

I don't know who these people are that participated in this "test, and what qualifies then to come to their conclusions, but to ask an untrained listener what they think is "best" is an exercise in futility.