Axpona

Schubert - Could it be that you prefer your own system to your friend's much more costly one, since you're used to it and you know what a good value it provides? From another perspective, does your friend agree with your assessment? From your statement that your system sounds much better than your friend's, it is given as an absolute fact. Is that really what you meant? I'm not trying to give you a hard time, just want to better understand your thoughts.

No, he used to have Acoustic Zen Crescendo's which were killer. He switched to Magico 7 something and system sounds
flat to me . Lamm pre is not as musical as my EE Avant IMO.
Last week he told me he's thinking about some German speaker
that cost 110K , I disremember which .
I'm a retired HS teacher Crescendos are a reach for me and are too big for my condo anyway. I set myself a 10K limit on my system for religious reasons though I've spent
much more over the years.

Would like to try/hear some Eastern gear somewhere/someday.

Schubert - thanks for the clarification, and enjoy the tunes!

(Magico is a wonderful musical speaker) I have heard them many times and not once were they musical. They do all the audiophile tricks but musical is not one of them.