It's intuitively clear that "high end" speakers can't deliver their promise with "low-fi" sources/amplification, but I have never had that personal experience. Reason: full-range floorstanders, unported yet with good bass extension, were beyond my budget. So, while I could swing $2k amp and $2k preamp, $2k was also my limit for speakers. Only after substantially upgrading the speakers did the system come alive. Same electronics, same room, same configuration. Ever since, I have held to this maxim: never spend more than 60% on any component, upstream or down, than you paid for the speakers. (Well, I already knew the maxim, but couldn't afford to honor it). So, for those who endorse OP's binary framing of the question, I am on the speaker side.
