Chris, if manufacturers are tuning their gear to give a "house" sound then that really is a terrible shame.  What people should be looking for (and manufacturers striving to make) is not the Naim sound or the Arcam sound or the Krell sound but the real sound.

In an interview with HiFi Choice in the Oct 2002 edition Doug Graham of Naim is asked about "the Naim sound" and replies:

If people refer to a 'Naim sound' they usually talk about speed, dynamics and low coloration.  I think that this is all good, and surely what other manufacturers strive for.

When people ask 'how it sounds' we normally say 'great', but the difference is that we're talking about the music not the gear.  What we're trying to do is get close to the music.  We don't really want the equipment to 'sound'.

As Markus Sauer recently said on a thread over on PFM in response to people moaning about the change in the Naim sound:

I completely agree.

Michael.