My Dad......Your Dad; My Mom.......Your Mom.
Come on!
I just read about 2/3rds of this thread and quit. As it got off the path @ the 4th page. Let's just say that personal taste and individual perception is the most important factor when buying something. Now if any of you wants to say "here this receiver X is better" and then actually go out and buy it for me then OK. How can I debate that, I didn't even shell out the coin for it so who cares.
Elvis1977, hats off to you for the thread title, that is really why it is over 20 pages long, 200+ replies and 6500+ views. I don't recall anyone for thanking Elvis, especially an administrator or more importantly one of the owners of the forum itself for getting such "play". This thread undoubtably caused some rift and probably caused some to actually join the forum in order to post.
I too have loved H/K for some time. I also have JBL and Infinity speakers, see sig. I got many of these for free or well below retail back in my days of CC employment. However, I have listened to many new speakers and have to say that for the $ JBL is still a pretty good bet.
Again this is like saying a blue display is better than a green or orange one, hey maybe I'll start that thread!
At least Elvis1977 took the time to try and set up a good A/B test. We can only mention and hope levels and such were somewhat equal. Remember that for most of us to even truely percieve a difference it has to be interpreted within 6-10 seconds from one another, just plain simple "human hearing memory".
Cheers.