Perhaps.
You need to understand that several of my choices followed my equipment reviews for TAB -- there (and at SoundStage) I was given assignments about what to cover. I felt I needed to have equipment suited to those assignments and to get new assignments. When I started reviewing in 2004 I had Conrad Johnson. I reviewed the OTL Atma-Sphere M60 which I really liked and bought their MA-1 and MP-1. I was 'given' (encouraged) the opportunity to have Wilson speakers and bought the original Sasha W/P (an upgrade to me) which I used with autoformers on the MA-1. Not an ideal match, but it worked for my purposes.
[You can see an autoformer at the back of the lefthand Sasha and a hint of the MA-1 on the righthand speaker. There's the Ref 5, the MP-1 and an Ayre CD player and a Teres turntable with SME V. There's a CJ PV-8 on the window ledge though used their 16LS pre. Not my current house.]
Then came a time when I had a bunch of equipment kinda stacked up for listening. I was given the Lamm M1.2 to review. I was also loaned the ARC Refernce 250 monos by Shunyata Grant. The Atma MP-1 and Lamm M1.2 had an XLR incompatibility so I needed a different preamp. I bought an ARC Ref 5 linestage. Toward the end of the M1.2 review period the Alexia 1 arrived for review -- a more suitable match. I bought the M1.2s, gave back the 250 monos and sold the Atma-Sphere gear. It was a substantial transition and, as a fan of Wilson and Lamm, my editor was happy . So the M1.2 came first and that's why.
I followed the Alexia 1 review with an Alexia 2 review (thanks to owning a suitable amp) I gave that to PF when they hired me. THEN I learned about horns (with your help and others) and made the switch to JBL and eventually to the ML2. The M1.2 works well with the JBLs as you acknowledged (without endorsing) from some of my videos. I have a higher opinion of it than you and that's okay.
Audiophile madness happens in different ways to different people.
