The room and the way the speaker interfaces with the room is more important than anything I've experienced in my 35 plus years of doing this. (Assuming you have decent equipment to begin with.) A properly treated room with a pair of upper level Vandersteen's, 5's and above, that will allow you to equalize the bass for room placement, is really hard to beat in my opinion. I'm sure there are other speakers that allow you to tune them for the room that would be equally good but I don't have experience with them.
The room can make a bigger difference than anything. Upgrading cables and equipment racks without addressing the room first seems like pure folly to me.
The room can make a bigger difference than anything. Upgrading cables and equipment racks without addressing the room first seems like pure folly to me.