what speakers demand high end electronics

I think like someone mentioned above, Alan Shaw says that so he doesn't loose sales to other companies also. I don't blame him either. Those people may buy another brand, because someone selling XYZ brand says you could use mid-fi gear with their XYZ brands. Years back, I used a receiver to power more expensive speakers I liked in the 70s,until I could afford the better separates they deserved. Harbeth speakers do show the flaws in the rest of the system. They at times will show mid-range flaws that a lot of speakers don't reveal. There are cheap speakers that do reveal the flaws of gear that are way higher than their price category. It all amounts to in the end to have a system with everything good enough and getting along while not being any standout flawed sounding pieces in the chain.

Can we get an "Amen" from Herman, the self proclaimed forum moderator.

Is Audiokinensis' post difficult to understand? Assuming the amplifier was designed to maintain fidelity to the source, then when mated to an appropriate speaker load most amplifiers will sound alike. Even rabid subjectivist audio critics have made note of this - see J. Valin's comparison of the Soulution and Odyssey amplifiers.

Onhwy61, there is more to it than that- due to the fact that vacuum tubes failed to go away when transistors came in decades ago, two different methods of amplifier and speaker design, test and measurement exist to accommodate either technology.

One of the results of this is that equipment matching has become fairly important, otherwise there can be tonal aberrations, despite the amplifier and speakers having otherwise flat response.

more here:
http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.html