Okay, wow, took enough to get a proper answer from you, thank you for eventually doing it!
4LKN4:Using budget kit has no value in the real world as it's not a likely scenario. It may ocassionally unearth a real budget star, but this doesn't really have any value to it when used with kit of it's own ilk.
I don't understand this statement - where does it mention in Clare's answer they use budget kit? It says:
Clare Newsome:Yes, we work with reference kit, but no product is just tested with that alone. So we don't, as you say, just put speakers with a single amplifier. They'll be tested with the reference amp, a price comparable amp and often a combination we know they'll be commonly paired with (eg Rotel and B&W; Marantz and Mordaunt Short) so that we can make system-matching recommendations both in the review and on these Forums.
No mention of the word budget in there, just price comparable. So if the speakers are budget kit, they are tested both with a reference amp, an amp which is price comparable for those speakers i.e. one which is likely to be used in the real world with those speakers and also one that is generally known to work well with speakers of that brand.
4LKN4:I too have heard that these teated rooms are quite dead, which tend not to favour a lean sounding speaker, and favours fuller sounding speakers.
As Andrew says, heard from who? How can I possibly expect to believe you if you have no credible source. Sorry, I need more than that, I'm not a News of the World reader so I tend to look for credibility and evidence rather than just believing what someone who just joined the forums "heard".
4LKN4:I can't say I've ever seen any disagreements mentioned in print, but I'll look out for them in future. And again, because we're all different, one reviewer may feel they're not up to scratch, whereas another might feel they'll be right up someone's street and worth every penny. I've never seen this situation in print. having said that, I've never read every copy cover to cover.
I do read each issue cover to cover (WHF and Edge are the only two magazines which interest me enough to do this generally) and I've seen the disagreements in print.
4LKN4:(Sits and waits for Prof Hats remarks.......)
You seem to think I dislike anyone disagreeing with WHF's opinions. What I actually disagree with is people coming on this forum and making baseless comments and accusations. You'll see it in a number of forum posts I've been involved in such as recent ones with people commenting on all Onkyo amps being faulty, in the past people attempting to spread the myths of Plasma televisions, others attempting to put people off trying out different cables for themselves. In all, I speak out against anyone making ridiculous claims they can't prove - in most cases, it's pretty obvious the person is just there to troll. In this case, I don't think you're actually trolling properly, but you are making very serious claims that you haven't proven. So the onus is on you really.