How does this make sense, any sense? Any sense at all??

where are the Big Room people listening?

In the large listening rooms I have set up or listened in, the listening distances may be the same or a little greater then tooms you are used to. But listening to a small speaker, even at 9' away in a large space, is very different then listening to the same speaker in a large space. All speakers play with the room. Small rooms can be overloaded with sound (energy). Larger rooms can be underloaded(?), whereas there the room itself is damping the sound by the lack of reflection.

shtinkydog, audio gear in the same class (for Stereophile's ratings purposes) does not imply that these products sound the same or work the same way with your other gear, music, room or ears

In a sense the ratings provide guidance as to how well the manufacturer has achieved their stated goal and objectives for the specific product. I don't think anyone expects that a $1K speaker to compare to a $10K or $50K product. If they do it's more about your emotional connection to the sound of a given speaker than the price tag.

I don't know if I can explain it any better than that.

...however some of us are super audiophiles. We actually care about knowing how to tell whether one speaker is better than another at reproducing the signal you put ino it. This is not a matter of opinion. It is fact.

kenjit, what a revelation! Try as I might, I can't refute your logic. From now on I won't bother listening to or comparing audio components. I will simply ask you and you can tell me what's best. Better yet, why don't you just post a (short) list of the very best gear. I for one would appreciate the tremendous savings in time, effort and money.