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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
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,311 posts
 
Why do you think it is called an audio "system"?

Look up the definition of a system.

How you get there does not matter as much as the end results, though there are still happy paths and not so happy paths.

A little experience and knowledge certainly helps also.

What in the blue hell more is there to say about this topic?
unsound
7,329 posts
 
Blindjim, don't you see the inverse of your argument?
stickman451
553 posts
 
Another reason you should do speakers first is the fact that every speaker you purchase will be affected by the room you place them in; that's a fact! Most amps that I know of are not really impacted by the room dimensions or even the wall surfaces...

If your speaker does not integrate properly into the room, NO upstream electronics will correct the problems.

Listen to a wide variety of different types of speakers, horn loaded, panel, traditional box, sealed enclosure, ported enclosure, two-way monitors, ribbons, metal dome tweeter, silk domed, etc...find one that you enjoy and one that most meets the criteria that are important to you and buy it. Also confirm that it integrates appropriately with your room; if your room is 10 x 12 do not buy a set of KHorns, or a set of Wilson Alexandria 2's, or a set of Magnepan 20.1's....none of these speakers will work properly in a small room!

As time passes and you improve/upgrade your front-end electronics, your speakers will continually reward you with better sound and performance (assuming of course that you made an appropriate speaker choice!)
unsound
7,329 posts
 
Stickman, for the most part I agree with you, but the size of a room can have a bearing on amplifier choices.
stickman451
553 posts
 
I agree, in the extreme amps are impacted by the size of the room and more obviously the speaker load/characteristics. You probably wouldn't go with a flea powered SET amp if your room was 25 x 35 for example, not unless of course your were using something like a KHorn which has a sensitivity of 104 db...even then, I would want more than a couple of watts...

My limited experience has been that very sensitive speakers seem to do best with lower or moderately powered amps, whether tube or SS. Tougher loads, like a Magnepan panel speaker are much happier with as much power as you can throw at them; think 500 watt SS or BIG tube amps..

I stand by my earlier points in this thread. To me it makes little sense to choose an amp first; ultimately the choice of speaker has the greatest impact on the overall tonality of the music, the type and condition of the sound stage, and the overall response you get in a particular room.

Find a speaker you like/love and then do some hunting until you can find the very best amp that matches well with the speaker (and its particular design characteristics) and one that is powerful enough to drive the speaker to acceptable sound pressure levels in your room.
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