ultimate final word how2acquire appropriate systm

Seeking or looking for best sound system one's budget allows. One man's/woman's world class top choice #1 system may be another man's/woman's disaster. How does one go about finding the most pleasing set-up for oneself if listening is utterly the only way to really know what's best for "me", when it's obvious that it's nearly impossible to hear even a fraction of what's out there. And the audiophile mags have been some what a failure at reporting everything that's out there that deserves recognition regardless of the company's advertisment budget for that mag. In this discussion I hope to hear suggestions on where to start e.g. speakers first or should the source be the first to choose. When visiting a show room and auditioning speakers for example is it wise to listen to a mid-fi cd player or should the top of the line cd player be used. I am supposing that most of us on agon are hoping to reach class "a" systems, but for those who do not aspire to this isn't it still wise to hear speakers with the best electronics, after all technology is always trickling down to the lesser expensive models and today's $10,000 cd player sound will most likely be found on tomorrows $1,000 cd player. So questions to those that haven't given up on finding nirvana: #1 What component should be chosen first? #2 What should the remainder components be: hi-fi or just mid-fi? #3 Shouldn't using A-B testing be the choice method of the buyer? #4 Should reference equipment be used in the A-B testing listening audition? #5 Should we reward good companies with our spending choices? If we want there to be a healthy influx of good equipment at reasoneable prices shouldn't we show them support by buying them today. Also we can spread the word here by listing good products at decent prices. Let's play, thanks for reading this long question.