@twoleftears
it is highly situation specific, as you can imagine
prentice is correct, preamp will have more influence if the amp has a pretty easy time gripping and driving the speakers, otherwise, amp to speaker interface and interaction can be dominant
for many years i have always felt the heart of my system is my conrad johnson linestage (prem 16ls2 or et5 or art over the years), but i used fairly easy to drive bbc heritage speakers like spendor harbeth proac quad -- and i use plenty of amp to drive them whether tube or ss -- thus the cj brought the magic to the party...
it is highly situation specific, as you can imagine
prentice is correct, preamp will have more influence if the amp has a pretty easy time gripping and driving the speakers, otherwise, amp to speaker interface and interaction can be dominant
for many years i have always felt the heart of my system is my conrad johnson linestage (prem 16ls2 or et5 or art over the years), but i used fairly easy to drive bbc heritage speakers like spendor harbeth proac quad -- and i use plenty of amp to drive them whether tube or ss -- thus the cj brought the magic to the party...