Source or speaker

Shardorne did I step on your toes?

Shardorne did I step on your toes?

Not at all - just poking fun ;-)

I simply tried to follow your own logic at the start of the thread. Either you built your system around your source ("get the source right and everything follows") or as you stated further down it was "mostly luck"??

Bill's advice to newbies is to start with speakers that you really like and go from there. I agree with this philosophy that is all. Frankly, I'd hazard a guess that it was actually not "mostly luck" for you, as you have an excellent pair of speakers!

Shardorne,
You----
Your good!
You picked up on those merlins.
Actually I have been hearing good things about your atc's as well.
There are so many brands to choose from and most have a fan base. I could easily have chosen a different brand after reading the fan's praises of those other brands.
But it so happened to be that I stumbled across the merlins by chance before even reading praises from the big loyal fan base merlin has. So it's not all luck, but luck that they came my way.
While the other choices were made based on researching the forum here, which I am grateful that we have except for the few ball busters now and then;~)

Another confirmation to what Audiofeil said. The speakers and our ears is where the magic happens.

To add to what Audiofeil said:

Yes, the speakers first along with matching amplification, but remember that transducers (speakers, cartridge, DAC) have the greatest impact on the sound b/c they are transforming information from one form to another (digital to analog, electrical to sound, analog movement to analog electrical) and this transduction has to be the hardest thing to accomplish properly.