Ever discover cheapo speakers actually sound...

By the way, though I may be critical at times, I am the type of person that likes to enjoy things and make the best of life. When I visit friend's homes I don't have thoughts of how terrible their systems are in comparison to my system. I always see the positive, and I honestly enjoy the sound coming out of their setup. I am fully aware of the deficiencies, but I choose to focus on the highlights. Could that be happening with my temorary speakers, could I be ignoring the negatives.
The merlins are leaps and bounds better, an a/b test would reveal that dramatically, but I find my aural registering perception adapting to the new sound. Maybe I am lucky.
In the end I still know what I like and that is the omni directional sound you get with mbl, it is for me the most thrilling experience.

The short answer is yes.

Most even decent speakers that fit a room properly will sound good with good equipment upstream. The deciding factor can easily become more one of personal taste.

This thread reminds me of the ones asking what's that weird sound my speakers are making where the answer is the speakers can't make sounds by themselves. The puppet and master relationship between speakers and upstream gear dictates that good gear will make any speakers sound better but good speakers can't overcome weak gear.

$240 list price speakers - $30K of gear to feed them and it sounds "decent" compared to your regular main expensive speakers.

IMHO, this is highlighting that you might have a problem somewhere or elsewhere. This type comparison should really be "Night and Day". A speaker is the most influential part of a system provided it is fed properly and placed properly in an acoustically treated room. I note that you have become enamored with MBL (at demos) and yet you have the outstanding Merlin speakers at home....to me all these factors just do not quite add up correctly. Could it be room acoustics or something else?

I don't mean to be critical but I really do believe you should get "night and day" between $240 and $10 K speakers. I would understand if you were comparing $2000 list price speakers against an oddball $10K speaker but you have excellent main speakers! Again I would be concerned and please don;t take this as criticism - my thinking is that if you can identify the issue then you could be much happier. For example is it possible you have a lot of gear and shelving cluttering and crowding the speakers or your listening position? Might one item in the chain be faulty?

Interesting statement RockyV. I have a couple of questions. Since the lion's share of distortion comes from the speakers, no matter what brand or price range, and speaker characteristics vary far more than electronics, how can good gear overcome poor speakers? Since the speakers are the actual transducers of the electronic signal back into audible sound waves, and that transduction and subsequent interaction with the room introduces complexities far beyond what occurs in the electronic signal path, how can upstream components overcome these factors?