Previous attempts at a detailed confrontation of eclipsing binary data with theoretical models of main-sequence evolution were faced with the choice between data of inhomogeneous (mostly low) quality for many systems (Kriz, 1969; Lacy, 1979) or accurate values of mass, radius, and temperature (or luminosity) for very few systems only (Popper et al., 1970). In addition, more detailed and homogeneous stellar structure calculations for several compositions were needed. Since 1972, a coordinated photometric and spectroscopic programme at our institute contributes to building a sufficient observational basis for such a test. Among published standard models for the range 1–10 M⊙, Hejlesen's (1980) are the most extensive, agree well with other standard models, and are presented in a format suitable for comparison with binary data. Here we can only outline a few salient new results from this study.