Garbage in - Garbage out?

Look at your system as a whole and find the weakest link. A different amp (or source) can profoundly change the way a speaker sounds, so the most effective upgrade is not always as simple as changing "the most important component". But you cant fix a "bad" source or amp with great speakers, so generally speaking, yes garbage in-garbage out. And thats all I've got to say about that.

Pbb, I like it (re:)

Why no one tests systems as a whole still baffles me, since no one yet has been able to listen to a power amplifier without a source on one end and speakers on the other.

I agree with Albert regarding Pbb's comments i.e. he hit it on the head. If one did "SFTA", you would find that i've said all along that your system is only as strong as your weakest link. It is the system that you're listening to, not any one component. One "killer" component does not make a system high performance. Even a combination of multiple "killer" components does not mean high performance. If that were the case, we wouldn't see so many "flavour of the month" products for sale, would we ??? Sean
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Having worked in high-end audio for several years, I absolutely concur with Rel - the transformation of mechanical energy to electrical (cartridges) and back again (speakers) are the areas most subject to the introduction of distortion and spurious noise. Even a very good speaker will have distortion levels several orders of magnitude greater than your average amp. How many of you would buy an amp that had 5% distortion at rated output? ALL of the speakers you have ever heard probably had more than that.

And don't even get me started on the foolishness of statements like: "Boy, that new power cable I just paid $800 for made a night and day difference in the sound of my system." Talk about garbage in and garbage out...

Maybe it was because of Ivor but in UK the emphasis was always on the front-end. When I lived there I used to read about the US penchant for big amps and wonderous speakers.

Now I'm in the US I've got the amps and speakers (albeit B&Ws !).

But I do think things have changed with digital sources being the norm and that bits are bits, to overly generalize. Analog sources are still hard to reproduce though.

And another over generalization. Technology hasn't changed much in speakers or amplifiers while manufacturers and content providers are always trying to change source formats. Mono vinyl to stereo vinyl to Cd to multi-track CD to ? So it may be worth the 'risk' to plow disproportionately (that's a long word!) more of your money into things that you're less likely to change out, like amplifiers and speakers and cables and power supplies, than would logically be the case in the pursuit of the best sound for the buck.

Just my 2c, or so.