Serious toys or tools.
Back in 2007, Paul Bell hosted a subwoofer shootout in NYC. No JBL, no EAW, but a nice selection of other brands from around the world. The sub David brought had 3x 12" cones. The result of listening and testing brought the NY Environmental Police to the club because we were rattling stuff in a 5th floor apartment - across the street. In down town Manhattan.
The LAB Archives has a couple of threads about organizing the event and the event itself. The magic search phrase is "NYC sub shoot out". The first thread should start around late summer of 2006.
Jeff Permanian was there with first version of his compact sub. A forum member brought a modified LABhorn.
Lots of TEF sweeps and some magic smoke releases.
Mac Kerr, Dave Dermont, Rob Spence, Ivan Beaver, me... people you know from the forums were there, too. Fun to meet folks I'd only know on screen.
What I remember the most was that after the "trip" was measured/played, Jeff and Mark carried in the Growler.
Pretty much everybody laughed-because it was so much smaller than the Tripp
But they shut up pretty quickly when it was played.
A good point of "diminishing returns". Once you get to a certain point, it gets hard and harder to get more and more.
It was that one event that gave the Growler its start because of the showing.
Hence the reason to do side by sides, and not just judge on different opinions or thoughts in different setups.