Yes the Levinson can weld metal and melt your face at the same time,I've listen to several levinson amp and any of them would be overkill for most homes!
I was invited to a VIP demo of a new projector system for the home a few weeks ago,the complete system was just north of 180 grand! 
but you could get any screen size that would fit your room and it did come with complementary theater seats and a popcorn machine. It was using a "Valve" Macintosh amp assembly and the speakers were various,depending on the room.
I have to suffer with an older integra amp,it only has 3 valves but it's considered a hybred design.Personally I dont like electrostatic speakers,maybe I've never heard the "right" ones but they always seem to lack bottom end and the ultra highs,which I cant hear anymore used to sound tinny to me. Yes I know a good sub will take care of the bottom but I've never seen a electrosub! My integra runs and even old pair,ya only a pair of castle speakers which can cause you to loose your hearing! I did have a pair of EV's but once I had a kid running around I had to move the speakers up out of reach and the EV's at about 100 lbs were just to big!
Besides my son actually poked on of the mids and that was about a 350$ lesson!
I picked up a thorens at an auction for too cheap.... and use a stanton cartridge,the thorens is all manual,the cheapy but still one of the nicest turntables for the price!
Every once in awhile I listen to Zack play drums...ya I have the vapours on vinyl! 
As for sound cards.....bla I cant listen to music thats played on a computer!
I also wouldn't invest into a computer gaming sound card. If I wanted to build a PC for music it would use a high-end non-gaming sound card. Currently I'm using my Macbook pro with a USB DAC although the MBP and the iPhone do a pretty good job playing straight from the jack too.
I have Electro-Voice ELX112P:s for outdoor party / garden listening by the way. My mobile party set has a combined output power of 4,5 kilowatts
I can host even a large party easily.
If the ESL you've listened has lacked also TOP end
were you perhaps listening to the legendary Quad63's? They're quoted as the worlds finest mid-range speakers
Usually ESLs have extremely high quality high frequency response due to the operating method. But you need to sit absolutely in the sweet spot because you can hear the highs only direcly in front of the panel. Cheap ESLs are actually usually overbright because they lack the active correction required. A good ESL will have a shelving EQ circuit to correct the dipole roll-off and suck out the panel resonance bump. Also the size of the panel matters a lot, small curved ESLs I don't like either. For example Martin Logans smaller models - I can't stand them. Not directive enough and you can hear the muddy bass because theyre hybrid. Full range ESL (the size of a barn door) and a good dipole or kardioid sub is the way to go. Also transmission line bass is said to be excellent with ESLs but they're very bulky.
