Amp more important than speakers?


The common wisdom seems to be the opposite (at least from speaker makers), but I have tried the many speakers that have come thru my house on lesser amps or my midfi A/V receiver and something was always very wrong, and things often sounded worse than cheap speakers.
On the other hand, I have tried many humble speakers on my my really good amps (& source) and heard really fine results.

Recently I tried my Harbeth SHL5s (& previously my Aerial 10Ts, Piega P10s, and others) on the receiver or even my Onkyo A9555 (which is nice with my 1985 Ohm Walsh 4s, which I consider mid-fi), and the 3 high end speakers sounded boomy, bland, opaque.

But when I tried even really cheap speakers on my main setup (Edge NL12.1 w/tube preamp) I got very nice results
(old Celestion SL6s, little Jensen midfi speakers).

So I don't think it's a waste of resources to get great amplification and sources even for more humble speakers.
My Harbeth SHL5s *really* benefit from amps & sources that are far more expensive than the Harbeths.

Once I had Aerial 10Ts that sounded like new speakers with vocals to die for when I drove them with a Pass X350 to replace an Aragon 8008.

Oh well, thanks for reading my rambling thoughts here...

So I think I would avoid pairing good speakers with lesser amps,
rgs92
I dont agree that poor room/speaker synergy is beyond improvement from a better or different amplifier in all cases. The classic example that comes to mind is a booming sound from larger speakers in a small room. It surprises people that a more powerful amp with better bass control can often completely eliminate this problem.
mofimadness4,690 posts06-25-2011 2:35pmI'm from the speaker first camp. Find what you really like the sound of and build up from there, around the speaker.

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With  the new addition of a  4 inch wide band paired witha  8 inch wide band, has  caused me to RE-Calculate my system component equation.
Amplification 10%
source  8%
Wires/cables 2%
Thats leaves the rest of the equation to The speakers at a  wopping 80%
Yep you read correctly, 80%,,might as well  join my mantra
**speakers are everything.
And I'm being generous with 10% amp 8% source.
Speakers are The Critical Component. 
In my experience a  tube amp = a  tube amp
SETs and PP are near equal(minus the 300 B tube which are meant for Tele industry)
Source = source(Phono has a slight advantage)
Speaker = speaker,,...each is completely different from the next.
All xover types are near equal = yes true
All stats/panels near equal = agree
All horns similiar = agree
All wide bands near equal = false. 
I am the arch heretic philistine 
The Iconoclast
Smasher of the Stone Tablets. 
Temple destroyer.
A new day is dawning, a  new true approach to high fidelity for the 21st C audiophile.