Absolutely not. I have compared. And I see absolutely no "astounding" benefits of towers over bookshelf or sealed over ported. I do see an unequivocal benefit of multiple subwoofer bass over tower bass because the multiple subwoofer bass produces a shockingly and incomparably smoother bass response compared to bass from towers. But as far as midrange and treble, I see no difference whatsoever. I am not arguing about the bass response between a tower and separate subs. i agree with you in that regard. In this particular case with the Emp's, there is a serious compromise with the bookshelf in that it is using that 5 inch driver to cover a freq response from 60 hz to 3000 hz. Contrary to popular belief, the tower mids are coming in at about 500 hz and cutting off at 3000 hz. The mid is worked way to hard in the E5 b. Comparing your Salons to your KEF's is a red herring, as both speakers are three ways. The KEF separates the frequency band among those three drivers. Not an apple to apple comparison with the two way Emp bookshelf!