Speakers The single most critical component

What is the most important component? Every single one of them.

An integral audio system is like a piano, all parts of the piano are important....You are right about that.... But put the piano in a good room or in a bad room it will sound very different...

It is better to have an average audio system in a good room than a better audio system in a bad room... And the difference if the acoustic controls are optimal is so huge than the best system in the world will not be enough to beat a less good one in this optimal room...

Then focusing on cables or sources for sure is right....But secondary....Especially when advising people about good choices...

BECAUSE in audio experience for almost all people with an "average audio system" nothing compared in S.Q./price ratio with the acoustical settings controls of the room...

If someone own a dedicated room it may cost peanuts.... My mechanical equalizer cost me nothing for example...My passive treatment cost me nothing also....Is it the best? no... Is it extraordinary? yes...

Some pychoacoustical factor are related not to the gear or the tweaks or the cables or to the speaker choices mostly, but to the relation between the speakers the room the passive materials treatment and the active controls mainly....

Why?

Because for example listener envelopment or LEV is related to the timing thresholds of the wavefronts coming from each one speaker, and crossing the different pressure zones and reflecting on the walls toward EACH ears with DIFFERENT timing cues....No piece of gear by itself can give this experience of the listener envelopment or LEV in a non controlled room....Some piece of electronic gear some very costly "tweak" using RF can( like the schumann generators at low cost help a lot or the more sophisticated atmasphere of SR which is more powerful) but they will NOT give you a natural timbre experience like an acoustical treatment and active control will do and must do....Then.....

Psychoacoustic is the gate to the optimal audio experience.... Upgrading the gear is not the way, save for rich people with no time to do the brain work....

Let me share my most recent experiences
Everyone can decide for himself
This is only my opinion, my 2 cents.
My Defy7 was being upgarded by Ricahrd Gray, so as is his usual, he loans out his spare amps.
1st up,  his <<baby Gray>>a  heavily modded Dynaco ST70 redesigned by Richard, he sells alot of these amps.
Really did not expect much from the lil Gray,, but honestly close to the Defy.
Next he loaned me his Allan Organ mono blocks with KT120's, again, sound close to the Dynaco and Allan.s all 3 amps had close to same sonics, /sound stage etc.
kt88=EL34 = KT120, to me a tube is a tube. just shades of difference twix the 3 tubes.
Which is how i base my opinion a  push pull = a  push pull. 
 SET's are another amp.
I could live with any of the 3 amps, but prefer the Defy for its aesthetics and does have slightly superior sonics, = read <<nuances> Nothing more.
My Jadis DPL preamp, sounds very close to my sold chinese clone Jadis 12AT7 preamp, hardly tell them apart. 
The cayin cd player sounds very close but no cigar to the Shanling, the Shanling onlya  nuance over the pricey Jadis DAC. 
Conclusion, 
Most quality design  push pull tube amps will exhibit very close ambience to each other. 
Caveat here, looking at a  baby Gray, looks ugly inside and very simple layout vs Defy 7's very complex layout. Yet both sound similiar. 
Jadis DAC has some very nice components inside vs the  Made In China looking Shanling, Yet both sound very close in sonics. 
Now we come to speakers.
There is not 1 box type xover design, traditional 2 or 3 way that competes with a  FR/TIHorn
Here its a matter of a  completely different experience.
This is what i am attempting to get across  in this topic, Agree, disagree, fine. I just wanted to document my experience as a  google login reference for future audiophiles research. 
They can do what they wish with my experience. 
Caveats here. 
Gold Lion KT88's soundeda  bit too warm for my taste, went with Svetlana, next wioll be EH kt88's.
Might be a dif, not sure.
Richard says they are the same tube, made in same plant, Can't say for sure if he is right.
Next up caps, When the other tech geek removed the big blue Philips caps and installed Nichicon's, some of the Jadis magic went away also, WE put them back.
When we installed 12 .47 Mundorf SESGO caps, i noted more bass,
Again navships wiring throughout system all adds up to nice nuances. 
Bottom line is the biggest most significant gain in my system was going to a  FR vs the old traditional xover low efficiency design. 
IMHO tubes + FR are a match made in heaven. 
Richard was telling me often, <<YOu have the wrong speakers>> But not understanding what he was getting at, He may not have even mentioned FR. The FR discovery was all on my own research. 
I would look over DL offerings on ebay for hours, But not sure what exactly FR was  all about. 
Took the step and glad i did. 
This is why i arrived at the hypothesis <,speakers are everything in a  audio system>> 
All else are just nuances, tweaks. 
I you have the wrong speakers, ya ain't got nothing. 
Hope that clarifies. 

Intriguing to see a post coded with a blend JSON JavaScript Python and HTML. ML robothreads could be the future of Audiogon. 

Congratulations to everyone who had the willingness and patience to decipher the long run on sentences full of abbreviations and symbols!

I guess Im not everyone.  I read the Title, any consolation prize?