You guys are in for a RAAL treat (yes, I misspelled "real" on purpose

)! I sat down for a couple hours with the SS12's at RMAF, and in my opinion nothing touches them in their price range. The only two speakers that were as good or better cost 20K+ (Vandersteen 7's and Dynaudio C3's). Oh, and the front end driving those other two speakers cost more than the speakers themselves, with the gear in the Vandersteen room passing 100K, so... The "Iris Room," which is where Salk and Empirical were showing, hands down wins the best room for bang for your buck, not to mention the "best in show" from The Absolute Sound (Awesome!!!). Neither company tries to rip you off or overcharge and they offer a ton of sound quality for your money. Although I would have liked to hear the SS's with some tube action.
Hang in there boys; the wait IS worth it.