SPeakers 90% of your sound

Stehno, I don't know for sure, but I suspect you might be right when you say that amplifiers may be the most underrated componenet. It seems to me as though many beginners underestimate the importance of appropiate amplification. I still think speakers should dictate amplifier choices, and at the risk of being repetitive, work back from there. I can understand why many feel that a preamp/control device or source is the most important, because those are the components that they tend to have the most tactile relationship with.

Unsound, I would guess that every system you put together sounds very good at any price level, well said.

Just to be clear--I'm not talking about good rooms. I'm talking about great rooms. There is a huge difference. You can get lucky with dimensions, and absorption--but we are talking way beyond this. A room completely engineered to perform optimumly as a listening room. Once you've heard a room like this--there is no comparison. Now, it does not make a bad system sound great--in fact it exposes weaknesses of the system--but also strengths. It basically delivers the truth of what a system has to offer, but in this hobby you don't have to spend a lot on equiment to have a good well balanced system (in terms of components). Even for a $5,000 system, basic room treatment should be addressed. For a $20k plus system it's almost a crime not to address the room, and for any "state of the art" systems, not engineering the room is really wasting the ability of the system. So there really is a balance--that may have not been clear in initial post.

I share this, which plays into Stehno's last comments. I have had B&W N803 speakers for just over a year now; these speakers are well spoken of. For the past year they have sounded good but I was still left wanting; I have used a Levinson No.383 and BAT VK-30/200 with them. I recently purchased a Rowland Concentra II and this has transformed the performance of the N803's. I was selling the N803's, but no longer and I can concur that they can sound very good indeed once paired with the right amp.

Sogood51, I hope your being sarcastic. I haven't put that many systems together, and have made my share of mistakes. Besides my biases may be very different than someone elses.