So did some listening tests in Direct mode and equalized the volume using my DB meter.
I listened to a John Wick scene, and I could hear differences, but they were not good or bad. Perhaps I picked the wrong scene to listen to.
I then listened to Pink Floyd's Time. I zeroed in on the drums between 60 seconds and 120 seconds, and I went back and forth many times. The LX700 definitely produces a clearer image, and the drum beats were coming from between the speakers. The drum strikes on the LX102 took up a larger area, but they were above the speakers. The drums on the LX102 didn't sound as "tight". I don't how else to explain it. With the 701 I could "see" the sound of the drum strikes as they moved across front better.
Then I listened to the start of the climatic chase in The Man from Snowy River. It's a stereo track and the imaging was better when the horses galloped across the screen; the sound of the hooves was more localized, more precise.
I should also add that the bass on the LX 701 was more controlled during the "Time".
The 701 is better. But I'm not sure the improvement is worth $700 to me. Originally, I had planned to get two rear height speakers and a separate amp for the my LR channels. My current receiver, the LX102 cannot do pre-amps and cannot do 5.2.4.
When I took my SVS Ultra's to my friend's house and hooked them up to his Rotel gear, the treble was way too hot. So I've scrapped the idea of hooking up the SVS Ultras to a separate amp. On a side note, his Arial 5's sound amazing, and are what got me into audio.
I'm sort of leaning toward taking the 701 back. I would still have to invest about a 150 bucks and whole day of work to get 5.2.4 going. And a separate amp for the Ultra bookshelves will probably make them intolerable, so I'm not going to be using the pre-outs on the 701.
~850 dollars is a lot for two more height channels and better imaging. I'm still thinking about it.