The Absolute Sound vs Pleasing Sound

So much agitation about nothing. Amazing. 

**** No. Just no. #1 effect is speakers. #2 is usually the microphones. #3 is acoustics of the concert hall, #3b is where you are sitting. The electronics of amplification would be somewhere, comparatively down around 10.****

As usual, missing the forest for the trees in the rush to nit pick and get your digs in. As painful as it may be, please read my posts in their entirety. If you take my quoted paragraph literally and out of context, yes (maybe), speakers MIGHT be #1; depending on the particular gear in question (“Crown”, anyone? 😊). In the context of my overall comment, “electronics of amplification” refers to the totality of amplification gear; the process of amplification. If you read and consider the total post, it is perfectly clear what is meant.

Regardless and more importantly, thanks for making and confirming my general point with your hasty comment and its stated “hierarchy”. Glad you agree with me on the general point. How nice it would have been, instead, to agree with the general idea as you did anyway and then go to the specifics; or, God forbid, ask for clarification in a friendly manner. 
Regards. 

The only thing you're going to get in your room is  reproducing what's on the medium not what was originally live in the studio or live in a concert venue. The more transparent or neutral your electronics sans speakers will only take care of that part of the equation in your reproduction effort . Should your speakers have a flat FR from 20hz to 20khz  adjusted to the Harman curve? Are nulls and peaks in your room addressed ? Testing has shown most people prefer that. Perhaps you don't,  but are you reproducing what's on the medium in a neutral way? To me trying to chase  a live concert sound in your room is a fool's errand. I can get a trumpet to sound like a trumpet but not like one playing in my room, I really wouldn't want that, same with drums, guitar,  violins,  pianos. I've been in enough rooms playing and singing having a good time but that's not what I'm looking for nor what I expect from my stereo. I only expect to try and reproduce whatever medium I'm listening to with as little coloration as possible. In other words what used to be known as high fidelity. 

First, let me begin by saying I love music.  Almost all music, very few exceptions.  I also love audio equipment.  I have had excellent equipment over the years,  Tubed amplifiers from the best, Wilson speakers, expensive connection cables, designated rooms with wall treatments, on and on it goes.  Now I’ve gone to streaming with good equipment and excellent speakers, average connections.  So why?  You will never reproduce music as it was actually played. Most concerts are held in huge buildings, awkward seating and distance.  Reproducing that sound is a waste of time.  Music on record or cds have been engineered. In many cases the original sound was not so good and made better by an engineer.  Searching for the perfect sound is in the ear of the beholder.  No two people hear the same.  In my opinion it’s like looking for that perfect driver for your golf game.  Every year the manufactures have now developed the one for you.  Whoever said stop when you find the sound you like was in my opinion correct.  Save your money for something more important because people spend millions on this search and still are not happy.  It’s how you hear the music that counts.  As Happy Gilmore says, go to your happy place, relax and enjoy what you have. This hobby can be incredibly expensive and be never ending.

**** . I only expect to try and reproduce whatever medium I’m listening to with as little coloration as possible. ****

We are in agreement.

IOW, what does “with as little coloration as possible” mean if not trying to get as close as possible, as concerns timbre, to the sound heard live? Of course, also accounting for the medium’s influence on the original (live) sound.  

As I have pointed out, I would add detail of dynamic nuance as a second priority. In a sense, distortion of dynamic nuance is a “coloration” of sorts.....in the realm of dynamic performance. Components have a signature not only as concerns timbre and the amount and type of coloration that they add to timbre, but also in their dynamics performance; how they convey rhythm.

Fool’s errand? Not in my book.