Amp more important than speakers?


The common wisdom seems to be the opposite (at least from speaker makers), but I have tried the many speakers that have come thru my house on lesser amps or my midfi A/V receiver and something was always very wrong, and things often sounded worse than cheap speakers.
On the other hand, I have tried many humble speakers on my my really good amps (& source) and heard really fine results.

Recently I tried my Harbeth SHL5s (& previously my Aerial 10Ts, Piega P10s, and others) on the receiver or even my Onkyo A9555 (which is nice with my 1985 Ohm Walsh 4s, which I consider mid-fi), and the 3 high end speakers sounded boomy, bland, opaque.

But when I tried even really cheap speakers on my main setup (Edge NL12.1 w/tube preamp) I got very nice results
(old Celestion SL6s, little Jensen midfi speakers).

So I don't think it's a waste of resources to get great amplification and sources even for more humble speakers.
My Harbeth SHL5s *really* benefit from amps & sources that are far more expensive than the Harbeths.

Once I had Aerial 10Ts that sounded like new speakers with vocals to die for when I drove them with a Pass X350 to replace an Aragon 8008.

Oh well, thanks for reading my rambling thoughts here...

So I think I would avoid pairing good speakers with lesser amps,
rgs92
The Synergy between your ROOM and your speakers is the MOST important. Synergy between your amp and your speakers would be next. It's all about "Synergy"
As many have already stated all components in an audio system matter. But specifically regarding power amp vs speaker, I `d rather have a great amp upstream of a good speaker than a great speaker downstream from a good amp. The speaker can`t improve the signal passed to it. The better the speaker, the more it exposes what preceeds it, i.e. garbage in-garbage out.
>>06-27-11: Tmsorosk
Without the right amp your system will never reach it's potential<<

Without speakers that satisfy a listener, the right amp is a moot point.
Audiiofeil,

"Without speakers that satisfy a listener, the right amp is a moot point."
You said in one sentence what I took several paragraphs to write.

Good listening,
Larry