During your audition, look for imaging and staging. The MTM design of the Stella is a huge plus for me.
The EM woofer has this Force factor that not many speakers have, so feel free to hit them hard with drum tracks, enjoy the utter speed of these drivers in the speakers. Snare drums and hi-hats and pressure of the drum sticks on the skin is very telling with the Stella. Totally authoritative, totally majestic. Does extremely well in Jazz, Blues, string ensemble.
If a soothing tone is what you're looking for, Aida's are great. Has a nice relaxed bass, and warmish mid-highs. Elegant sounding. Aida does well with vocals, and has a totally different feel to the Stella with string ensemble.
Personally, for $90k, maybe Xrt2k should be a serious contender, with a bit more stretch. Then you'll know what McIntosh is really about, even with 150watts. Just personally. Not many share my appreciation of the Xrt2k over the competition for strange reasons. Just my opinion.
Cheers!
Enit.
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