Well I would have stayed up till 2:00am but the family raised a revolt at 10:30 so I reluctantly put on my headphones ...what a let down! I did fail to mention, as has been mentioned before, that the imaging in two channel was excellent...even had my wife swearing that sound was comming from the center channel. As far as looks are concerned I think they look great..very understated which is just what I wanted as they blend in nicely and, imho, I would much rather save on looks and spend on what really matters to me which, of course, is they way they sound. I am quite certain after having auditioned the Klipcsh, Polk and Yamaha systems, that I made the right choice with the Ascends. Although I probably never would have bought the Yammies, they sure were very nice looking with that piano black finish but I think that would have caused some annoying light reflections sitting right next to my 110" screen. As it is the center channel sits about 2 inches below the screen and even with the matte finish I have a reflection. I'm going to have to cover the top with some black cloth but it's really no big deal.