What sounds more musical than audionote equipment

At the risk of sounding like Bill Clinton, I think you have to define what 'musicality' means to you- while you may think it is obvious and intuitive, take these examples- my Crosby Quad/ARC tube system with a vinyl source yielded consistently lovely sonics, unstrained and liquid sounding, but not lifelike. My Avantgarde Duo/Audiopax tube stuff is far more 'alive' sounding, but does not always sound
'smooth' or honeyed. Both are, however, musical in their own ways. I recently heard some Viva electronics playing through the JBL K2 and it was, at first blush, quite impressive, though without any real familiarity with the system or its components, I could not say more.

Yes there will be those who will stubbonly hold onto the same manufacturer, or those that are just plainly interested in the technical aspects of the sound rather than the music itself, each to his own, but I am certain the majority are probably on the same long road that i took.

Glad you found what you like, but can't you hear the stubborness in your convictions? You're making everyone who is not on your path WRONG. This simply isn't so.

michaela...you have one(or two or more) serious stereos.....i suspect you have that 'room i was talking about too.

Whart, please read the introductory question where i believe i have tried to clarify what it is i mean by musicality. I guess unless you fully appreciate where i am coming from it may not still make sense to some people.It is not easy, neither is it rocket science yet it took me lomg enough and I am embarrassed to say this.

A lot of the descriptive terms you are using to desribe the sound of the components only help clarify certain aspects of the technical performance of the units, they do not desribe anything about its musicality as defined by myself.

Luke

Luke- I appreciate that you defined what you meant, but there are two difficulties, at least: first, trying to describe in words how a particular phenomenon, such as a musical performance affects you, if at all (some of which is pretty subjective, don't you agree?) and second, whether the equipment, in combination, actually brings you more of that experience- and this is where I say there are many ways to convey the emotional impact of music through electronics and associated hardware- the Quads present an image that is not distorted by box-like colorations, but it is in miniature, and not dynamic or full range enough; the Avantgarde system has the dynamics and the range (most of it, anyway) and creates a sense of immediacy but is not as pleasing in some ways. Both systems do, however, convey what you are describing in different ways- these days I'm favoring the characteristics of the horn system over the electrostatic one, but I don't know if that makes one more 'musical' than the other by your terms.