Garbage in - Garbage out?

There is really no other way to evaluate what effect the other system components have on the sound without the speakers. The system is built around the speakers for the most part. In the end you are matching to the speakers, more than solely evaluating the other gear.

It would be like evaluating a DVD player for movies without a Video monitor. Using good speaker matters as well. You would not use an old Black & White TV for the DVD demo.

Speaker sets the tone and color of the sound, and it is limited by how low it can go usually. Good sources are to have a refined high, show off dynamic as much as possible, and give out good signal/noise ratio. Amplification is taking the signal from source and push speaker honestly to express its tone. Sources and amp can only tune the speaker a little but still the color of the sound is determined majorly by speakers. You can't push sonus faber to sound like Martin Logan no matter what sources or amp you use, IMO, speaker carry the "color" of the sound.

Depending on what is missing to your ear, you fix that part. Gargage can come in from source, or amp, or your speaker.

That is a great post Albertporter!!!
I 100% agree, and have stated that whenever I listen to a system, I always remember that I am listening to the WHOLE system. Not just the speaker, not just the source, but EVERYTHING from the AC in the wall to the speakers.

Unless you are REALLY familiar with a system it is not really possible to judge any one component of a system (except speakers in a general sense), when listening to any given system (unless you have a lot of time to swap out components and really critical listen to differences, this is the way to get a handle of component sound.)

A wise man once told me that the most important components of an audio system are the turntable cartridge and the speakers because they are the only two components that transform one kind of energy into another. I agree, with the caveat that everything else in the chain of system components can impact the sound along the way.

KF

I'm an infrequent poster here and an admirer of Albert Porter's rig. Thanks for all the comments.