Ok this will be a good thread.

Musiqlovr, I whole heartedly agree with you, speakers should always come first. Let me explain.

I use to frequent an audio business of rare quality. It was owned by Keith Yates of home theater design fame. He carried only the very best components. I watched and listened to a parade of great speakers debut on a weekly basis. All speakers enjoyed the best upstream components available. One speaker stood clearly above and beyond all others. I had to have that speaker. Knowing what kind of amp I needed to drive that speaker culled out almost all choices. I was lucky to have a wonderful cd player demonstrated at my place. That left only the pre amp. I just chose the most sonically invisible one I could afford.

I'm in music heaven now. And that is all because I realized the fallacy of front end first. It doesn't matter what golden player you plug into a sows ear of a speaker, it still will be a sows ear. I've heard plenty of great everything but the speaker systems, and every one was a disappointment.

6chac, lovely and funny as usual. Is this going to be a reunion?

The Eagle has flown

Your arguments are approaching the absurd. No one is saying other component consideration isn't important. What we "speakers first" are saying, they impart the greatest impact on your mind. I had one goal when I set out on my audio journey and that was to give voice to the greatest speaker I ever heard. That, in turn, began the best amp, pre amp, and front end search.

Subaruguru (I own two Subarus) very good and LOL.

Asa - Reporting in - No detectable alchemy showing up on my nonsense meter so far. ;)

Danvetc is correct. I use what works with high standards, regardless of price. I found a relatively inexpensive CDP that does everything I expect from listening to live performances. I bought my speakers for little more, but are sublime. Then I had to shell out the big bucks for an amp that can power 1 ohm. I suppose I was in a rare field where I knew exactly what speaker I would use. The amp followed out of necessity. The CDP is just plain great. It is a hold over from a less expensive system.

Cruising below radar.... What's that? Oh drat, that same 'ol hula-popper. :-)