Amp more important than speakers?

Regardless what's said here, your experiments told you what you need to know. A boss amp will sound good, even with midfi speakers, while a midfi amp will sound like a midfi amp; even with the best speakers.

Get real, how could anyone expect any thing less from a loudspeaker manufacture. Should Rgs92 believe Wilson or his own eyes?

Back when I practically lived in "high end emporiums", we were "grooving mightily" to all ARC electronics and top of the line Thiel speakers, when someone came in who wanted to audition a Rotel amp. After the Rotel amp was inserted, with ARC pre and Thiel still in the lineup; the soundstage collapsed.

Taters, it sounds like you have a match up that will give you the biggest bang for the buck. Only the "connoisseur's" of good sound realize that when it comes to speakers, "less is more"; meaning a simple design with high quality crossover and drivers.

The music is in the grooves and only a stellar well tuned rig can extract it. This means the bulk of the money has to be spent "upstream". Saying one can send "jive" to the worlds best speakers and they will translate it to music is "jive".

The music leaves the grooves, goes through the cartridge on to the pre and then to the amp. If it's "jive" before it gets to the speakers, it's going to be "jive" coming out of the speakers.

Jafox, why not keep the ARC and throw away the speakers?

When two people are rolling in the mud in the gutter; it's impossible to tell which one is the low life.

In the beginning, I too had a speaker fixation. I was most attracted to a speaker with a bright orange 12 inch woofer; it had "big bad bass". Every weekend, me and a friend would visit stores and listen to the speakers.I remember, "I got some new speakers, come over and check em out". After I arrived, "Dig that bass"! Everything in the house was vibrating like a mini earthquake. "We were cookin"!

When I got into the high-end, I discovered there was a world of music on the LP's I owned that I had never heard. "What's a 3 dimensional sound stage"? That's something that can not exist without the right pre and amp. When you get this, you also get the subtle musical nuances that go with it.

Although I haven't changed speakers in ages, the sound in my room has gone through revolutionary changes. My speakers are described on a thread I began titled, "Trade off, SS VS Tube Magic", dated 08-18-10. On the post dated 08-20-10, you will find an explicit description of my custom speakers. This might give you ideas on upgrading your present speakers by simply replacing the capacitors in the crossover. The amps I'm using at present are Primaluna 6 monoblocks. The tubes are Tung-sol EL34 power tubes, NOS RCA 12AU7 Cleartop and 12AX7 Shuguang small tubes. These tubes make a gigantic difference as opposed to the tubes that came with the unit.

This new amp and tubes have given me a sound stage like I have never heard before, or should I say "Never seen before". There are invisible performers on a stage that spreads completely across the room. The Stage is 7 feet behind the speakers, which appear to be useless pieces of furniture. The performers take their positions and the sound consistently emanates from those positions.

The original premise of this thread was not whether to buy the speakers or amp first, or last; it was based on placing the emphasis on the amp and the front end, as opposed to the speakers in regard to financial resources. I concur 100% with this philosophy. Those with unlimited resources could design a room and then purchase components to fit, while the rest of us have to make numerous compromises.

This thread made the statement that the amp was more important in regard to financial resources, or quality as in Class A, B, or C; although it was not stated in that precise manner. Nowhere is the sequence of purchase mentioned. "You talking about a trolley jumping the tracks", this is the best example yet. Why didn't youse guys start a thread titled "Buy speakers first"?