At RMAF 2008 The LS-9's were on display in a large room with a very large and impressive Dodd Audio tube amp. Myself and 2 friends auditioned them, as well as numerous other very high priced speakers at the show. Naturally, under show conditions, with different rooms, and different equiptment, etc., it's impossible to declare an absolute "winner". However, we 3 all agreed that nothing at the show, at any price, sounded better. We therefore concluded that the LS-9's are far and away the best deal (steal) in a set of ultimate loudspeakers. I would further suggest that , if at all possible, consider going with the 9's over the 6's. They sound a little cleaner, play a little deeper, and are less suseptable to height issues. If you are 5'10" or taller, you for sure want the LS-9's. I'm 5'10 1/2" and when I stood up in front of the LS-6's, I noticed a slight reduction of high frequencies. I was fairly close to the 6's at the time, and standing farther back reduces that problem somewhat, I guess. Also, I wouldn't worry if you have to sit fairly close to the speakers. Many say that you need to be back at least the length of the speaker's height, but to me they sound superb close in or farther back. (Dr. Sigfried Linkowitz agrees with me on this in regards to line source speakers)