I strongly agree with finding speakers that you really love. As has been previously stated, they will have the single greatest impact on the sound you hear. Use the other components to "color" things a bit. The other thing I'd say is when it comes to tube amplification, the tube matters. I went through a handful of 12a7 based preamps and was never happy. Once I put a preamp in with 6sn7 tubes it was a revelation. I got that balance of warmth and detail. I then sought out amps with the same 6sn7 tubes in the input and driver stages. As others have said, this took time and cost a fair bit of money. But right now, I don't have upgradeitis. I can just sit and listen to my system and enjoy the music it makes
Warm vs Revealing—the struggle for balance
For me my upgrade path has been finding balance between warmth and dynamics/detail.
It’s looks something like this: find satisfaction (Raven Nighthawk + Tekton), get upgrade bug seeking more dynamics, get more revealing gear (Ma 352), feel fatigued, buy new tubes (Telefunken) and speakers (SF Olympica); want more dynamics (Mc 601 + c50), I immediately get tube pre because of fatigue (c2300), still too sharp (new tubes and DAC); excellent balance, but of course sell speakers, new speakers too revealing, buy Cardas cables to replace Wireworld (ahh just right for now, but may be a little more revealing might be nice).
And oh yeah, working on fixing the damn room problems!
Chasing the unicorn.
Anyone else doing this back and forth?