Source or speaker

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.

Who's this Audiofeil guy?;~)
Well I thought I should elaborate a little on what I had posted as a Thread.
I agree to what oh holy AUDIOFEIL said, but I see that when taking a system to a higher level, after favorite speakers have been discovered as in my case(love my Merlins) that no matter how good the speakers are if the source stinks it will show in playback. I don't think I am alone when I suggest that more money should be devoted to the source.
I am willing to bet and this has been debated earlier and no I am not looking to argue, but I am willing to bet that given two systems of equal value but one in which more is spent on speakers and the other on source that the more expensive source one will be more pleasing.
I am at that state where I am convinced the merlins are magical, and it's more apparent as I improve the source. They did not sound as good before many of the upgrades. In the end I still say speakers should be chosen before amp and preamp. But I believe the source is the reason spectacular systems sound the way that they do.
If there was a shoot out between one excellent source versus one excellent set of speakers, and other brands of lessor value were brought in to replace one at a time the speaker and then the source, which will prove to be a greater contributor to an excellent system the speaker or source?
I am not sure if the outcome would be consistent.
I am just saying that to build a great system one must get the source right, because if it's not nothing will correct it!(obvious) But as we all know everything has to be right the pre and power amps the cables the room bla bla bla. I am sure we are all on the same page. IMHO

But I believe the source is the reason spectacular systems sound the way that they do.

If by source you include the quality of the actual recording then there is no doubt that a good recording is a also a huge factor. Variability in recording quality is close to being on par with speakers/room acoustics...