Speaker priority: high or low???

Good point Unsound. If I decided to drop a really large amount, say $100K, on a new system from scratch, I'd be seriously considering allocating the first big chunk to comprehensive room treatment. In fact, it wouldn't be at all crazy to my mind to take $85K of that $100K and allocate it to new construction of a purpose-built, acoustically designed and treated dedicated listening room, and then put a $15K system in it with the remainder. (Not that I have any immediate plans to put my money where my mouth is...I'm just messing around with gear waiting for the day when I'm living in a place I intend to stay, but I'll never do more than spot treatment on a trial and error basis...no $100K system 'investments' for me... :-)

After I buy my new speakers I am looking at adding on to our house. A listening room is one of the things I plan to work on, of course the pretext is to gain a better master bedroom suite upstairs. Without that and a little kitchen addition I don't think my wife would go for it.
I just want to say that I completely agree with everything everbody said throughout this entire thread. Except of course for...

I bought new speakers a month or so ago. I purchased a pair of Sony SS M9 full range speakers. They are American made and designed. I think they sound great since I have good electronics driving them. They are much better than their smaller siblings in ever respect.
I don't know that they have changed my opinion about speaker priority, but they have imprssed me greatly as to how much difference a listener can experience with a better speaker.

Transducers, which convert mechanical vibration to electrical signals or vice versa are the components that really define sound characteristics. While electronics do make a contribution to the overall sound, their impact is comparitively minor.

The most important transducer in the process is one we have no control over: the microphone used to make the recording. Different brands and types of microphones sound vastly different when recording the same sound, and it's hard to say which one is the best. They just all sound different. Recording engineers prefer certain mics for particular instruments, just as I have suggested that certain speakers excel at particular kinds of music.

Phono pickups also exhibit dramatic differences.

Finally speakers are transducers, and they impose their particular sonic signature on the music. If you limit comparisons to speakers that are generally regarded as "good" the differences are not that great, (compared with microphones) and what's better or worse is largely a matter of individual preference.