Since the April 2008 issue has not yet made it to the forum for discussion and I've almost finished reading the issue from cover to cover, I'll post this question here.
In the "Measurements" section of the Hansen Audio Prince V2 review, JA refers to the human ear's ability/tendency to latch onto a specific frequency region to use as its reference and that such a shifting reference point will be affected by the music being played. I understand that a solo female voice (Judy Collins/Joan Baez) can become the reference point when it dominates a recording without a male voice beneath it and vice versa. But how does this shifting reference point affect larger scale works? JA states he would expect the Wilson Watt/Puppy 8's to present a more "forceful" overall sound compared to the Hansen's "smaller" presentation of a work such as Schuller's Double Concerto for Flute and Piano. Why? Just what does this mean we should take into consideration when we are auditioning the "sound" of a component or speaker? How much of this then becomes a function of the room in a typical listening (not measuring) set up?