I'll take a swipe at defining an audiophile by comparing an audiophile with a "music lover" in the words of Joe.
The audiophile is mostly concerned with finding recordings which sound great to him/her in the playback chain.
The music lover is mostly concerned with finding a playback system which can make their favorite music sound great.
Therefore the music lover is flexible and can adapt to the music. The audiophile must be willing to accommodate their musical preferences so that their system can sound its best. This is why the audiophile is often very restrictive with the genres, formats or even mediums of music with which he/she is willing to connect.
The music lover puts music above all else. The music lover can ignore the prideful tendency to place the gear above the music no matter the subjective financial costs, appearance or non-conformity with the hyperbolic and hysterical marketing tactics in the playback marketplace.
Michael.
that makes sense now. i need to check out these jbl's. i know you had yg's as well like me so i bet i would like these a lot.