Good comments all around. I agree with Paperw8 that impedances have to match; but "trust your ears" just means that at the end of the day you have to be happy with your system; and synergy is that intangible (I guess intangibles could be considered "mushy"...) that gives you a little more for your hard earned ducats by giving you that sum-of-the- parts (components)-being-better-than-the-whole thing.
I guess there are some who would have heard the system I disparaged and liked it. I know, because I go to the audio shows, and there are some rooms that are very popular that it just blows me away that people like the sound in them. So everything is relative to the listener's ear. Although we have something of a "fellowship" as audiophiles (for the most part we agree for instance that Bose is crap), there are different schools of thought among us.
I'm lucky to have found an audio cohort that likes pretty much what I like: All tube, vinyl only, SET pretty much exclusively. Ya, I'm that guy.
But that guy considers himself pretty fortunate. I've paid my dues; my system is tits, and even my instincts are pretty good today.
I guess there are some who would have heard the system I disparaged and liked it. I know, because I go to the audio shows, and there are some rooms that are very popular that it just blows me away that people like the sound in them. So everything is relative to the listener's ear. Although we have something of a "fellowship" as audiophiles (for the most part we agree for instance that Bose is crap), there are different schools of thought among us.
I'm lucky to have found an audio cohort that likes pretty much what I like: All tube, vinyl only, SET pretty much exclusively. Ya, I'm that guy.
But that guy considers himself pretty fortunate. I've paid my dues; my system is tits, and even my instincts are pretty good today.