What is the art of sound?

[Tony G]

Thanks for your thoughts Steve.
As a latecomer to hifi discussion and not UK resident, I am only peripherally aware of all the to & fro associated with the nomenclature of "flat earth" and "round earth".
I had gathered that there was some association with adherents of certain manufacturers products.
In some respects it would seem that my preferences mirror your own, given that I am happy to do without bass response "flat to 20Hz" in favour of being able to "hear the walls" in the concert hall or studio.
To me though it is all yin and yang, the breathing in and breathing out of the universe, the one becoming the other, opposite but not opposed, holistic and complementary.

Addendum some time later,
it is certainly not my intention to aggravate old wounds and schisms or restart wars of which I have no knowledge. Please forgive me, if, in my ignorance of such historical matters, I may have seemed to be doing so. It is only my desire to deepen my own understanding of the issues involved and partake in some sort of discussion thereon, that prompts me to post. I have seen enough already of interminable and pointless argument in other places where the primary issue is lost in the clamour to "prove" who is right and obversely who is therefore "wrong".
I find it all acrimonious and unwelcoming and I get the impression that those here feel similarly.