Speaker priority: high or low???

Asa I don't know how I missed your comments here. I like your starting point and actually used a very similar approach.
Once I thought I had the pre-amp at the appropriate quality level I pursued other things. I tended toward the front end and have now worked my way back to my speakers.
The speakers I own now are by far the weakest link in the chain, but I still am amazed by how good they sound. They will be replaced later this year.
At the most though their cost will only be 20-25% of the cost of my whole system. Call me crazy!

I'm with Asa. If you get a speaker that has only errors of omission, and a good pre (I like the fulcrum analogy), you can then upgrade source and amplifier and get a significant improvement in sound. I have posted before, "modest speakers with great electronics will (almost) always sound better than great speaker with modest electronics. On my most recent system, I worked from the pre-amp out in both directions (new DAC, then speakers, then amp). Now I am going back to seeing if a new pre-amp will have a significant impact, now that my front end and speakers are up where I want them. Of course, this is not true if the speakers have fundemental flaws. And while it may not be realistic, I would much rather listen to a Levinson with the Superzeros, than Soundlabs driven by a Technics (maybe that's not quite fair, how about Soundlabs driven by a Creek).

I've been around the hi-end biz for 20 years now, and easily say that THE SPEAKERS ARE INDEED THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE ELECTONICS CHAIN IN REPECT TO SOUND QUALITY!
You buy the speakers first, then add the gear to match them! Anything else is backwards!
I've heard many many ultra hi end tweeky systems with poor speaker chioces, which sound poor. But you can get a fantastic speaker to sound at least very good with very low end gear conversely!
If you don't have the speaker, the sound will never excel.
Sooooooo many people, for some reason, fixate on the gear, and think of the speakers as an after-thought!..this is backwards. You find the speaker that's right for your situation, then compliment the gear.
I laugh when people tell me they bought this cool receiver, dvd player, and power conditioner, and then they say "now I need some speakers to go with em!!!
....to all who doubt that the speakers aren't number one on the gear chain, just spend the next 20 years of your life in the audio video business, and then you'll know...

Foreverhifi, that doesn't make any sense! You mean to tell me I can use a cheap CDP or TT, get only a portion of the signal off of the CD or LP. Then use inferior quality electronics to transfer the signal the source did not retrieve from the CD or LP but have it sound better when it gets to the speakers than a good CDP or TT that retrieves more of the signal and tranports it to average speakers.
It seems fairly easy to understand that a good CD or LP played on a good TT or CDP will recover more of the signal and transfer it through better electronics (which will degrade the signal less) to an average pair of speakers providing better sound quality.
Speakers will never sound better than the signal provided to them. The idea of good speakers reproducing an inferior quality signal sounding great is impossible unless the listener has lowered thier standards to a great degree.
I would much rather own great electronics and average speakers than great speakers and average electronics. The former system will always sound better than the latter.

Spent plenty of time in the audio business, and I totally disagree with speakers being the most important part in the chain. Maybe they are the most important part of the mid-fi business chain, but not the audio system chain.