First I'd like to say it sounds like you have a very nice setup at home with the Pass and Dunlavys that would be the envy of many, and I'd love to hear it.
I own Salons with 436 amps and am continually amazed by the sound. Each time I upgrade my equipment I find new levels of information. One thing I've noticed though (and I believe this is the reason some people come away from auditioning the Salons unimpressed)is that the Salons are like chameleons taking on the characteristics of the setup, recording, and associated equipment perhaps more so than other speakers I've auditioned. I can't fault the amps, but one of my suspects in your case are the Transparent cables. I've audtioned them several times using their Reference series digitals, power cords, speaker cables, and interconnects, with both SOTA Krell gear and Levinson and came away with many of the caveats you described. I've found both Synergistic and the Chris Ven Haus cables to be a much better match with my gear.
I've also found that one has to be very careful with the acoustics in the room. I've spent hours tweaking my room with Auralex and Room Lenses.
The 436s like lots of AC current and won't sound their best without a direct dedicated line to each amp. Something that I don't believe many dealers supply.
As for the Hoveland and Ayre equipment, I can't comment on the sound quality, as I've never auditioned it but it does have a good reputation and is definitely admirable. Perhaps it was not the best choice for this setup, althougth you would think the dealer would know which in store components would make a system like that shine.
Several of my friends and I have found that as you attempt to get the best out of high end equipment, you have to spend hour of time audtioning, tweaking, and finding out what conditions this caliber equipment wants to sound the best. It is easy to just make the connections, crank the system up, and be prepared to be blown away. But with equipment of this caliber (and I would include your home system) to get the sound SOTA equipment can provide can take hours of effort.
I own Salons with 436 amps and am continually amazed by the sound. Each time I upgrade my equipment I find new levels of information. One thing I've noticed though (and I believe this is the reason some people come away from auditioning the Salons unimpressed)is that the Salons are like chameleons taking on the characteristics of the setup, recording, and associated equipment perhaps more so than other speakers I've auditioned. I can't fault the amps, but one of my suspects in your case are the Transparent cables. I've audtioned them several times using their Reference series digitals, power cords, speaker cables, and interconnects, with both SOTA Krell gear and Levinson and came away with many of the caveats you described. I've found both Synergistic and the Chris Ven Haus cables to be a much better match with my gear.
I've also found that one has to be very careful with the acoustics in the room. I've spent hours tweaking my room with Auralex and Room Lenses.
The 436s like lots of AC current and won't sound their best without a direct dedicated line to each amp. Something that I don't believe many dealers supply.
As for the Hoveland and Ayre equipment, I can't comment on the sound quality, as I've never auditioned it but it does have a good reputation and is definitely admirable. Perhaps it was not the best choice for this setup, althougth you would think the dealer would know which in store components would make a system like that shine.
Several of my friends and I have found that as you attempt to get the best out of high end equipment, you have to spend hour of time audtioning, tweaking, and finding out what conditions this caliber equipment wants to sound the best. It is easy to just make the connections, crank the system up, and be prepared to be blown away. But with equipment of this caliber (and I would include your home system) to get the sound SOTA equipment can provide can take hours of effort.