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
Regardless what's said here, your experiments told you what you need to know. A boss amp will sound good, even with midfi speakers, while a midfi amp will sound like a midfi amp; even with the best speakers.
Read the sixth paragraph of this review(and following). The expensive components displayed, and supposedly connected, were Krell. The amp actually driving the speakers; a $650.00 parasound(and an iPod). (http://www.cherubini.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=yagendoo_VaMazing_1.tpl&product_id=2443&category_id=103&keyword=wilson&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=954&lang=it)
Rodman9999,
This should come as no surprise for anybody that knows how to build a system.

It's simply common sense and nothing more.
Get real, how could anyone expect any thing less from a loudspeaker manufacture. Should Rgs92 believe Wilson or his own eyes?

Back when I practically lived in "high end emporiums", we were "grooving mightily" to all ARC electronics and top of the line Thiel speakers, when someone came in who wanted to audition a Rotel amp. After the Rotel amp was inserted, with ARC pre and Thiel still in the lineup; the soundstage collapsed.