Audio: It is the best of hobbies and it is the worst of hobbies. It starts with a love for music but that quickly leads to obsession.
It's this transition from the love of music to the love of gear that separates the true audiophile from the herd.
However you decide to travel, whichever fork in the road you take, the destination is usually the same.
Peace to you and now your heart is full of gladness because you can get back to the music. Or maybe you simply run out of money and can no longer fund your voracious appetite for more and better upgrades. A very sad ending for many of us.
In any case, the OP's opinion on the importance of loudspeakers and sufficient amplifier power is correct.
It has to be.
There's nothing wrong with using 20 watt per channel tube amps if you prefer their sound but you'd probably want to pair them with a pair of reasonably efficient/easy to drive loudspeakers, wouldn't you?
As for power conditioners, room treatments, isolation etc there's no doubt that these might be useful in some circumstances but it's difficult to generalise here since rooms and equipment are all built differently.
@dman1974 Thanks for sharing your story. Posts like yours can often cut to the chase in a faster way any amount of reading reviews ever will.