Perhaps we should stick with midfi...

It's all part of the process Troll...errrr fellow audiophile. Gotsta pay the dues!
Pay some restocking fees and take some dat monies and I'll see you at the RMAF, where you will see/hear many full fledged cases of audio synergy at work.
My first system, when I got back into the hobby after a twenty five year hiatus, consisted of an ARC CD-7, Cary SLP-05 preamp, NuForce Ref 9SE mono amps, and Von Schweikert VR4-SR's with all Nordost Valhalla cabling. There are not a few audiophiles cringing right now, and a couple of jealous newbies muttering "Wow! Cool system!".
Synergy trumps cost in every instance. This system was a disaster, and could have been averted if I wasn't inclined to trust my instincts. There is a difference between trusting your ears and trusting your instincts. I don't say you shouldn't trust your ears; but if you ain't heard it TOGETHER, you ain't heard it. Period.

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.

That's actually a good post, Rrog. I misspoke. Bose is sort of the John Tesh of speakers. Kind of an inside joke amongst the insiders. Yugo; Gallo; Red Lobster. They try so hard to be all things to all people that they become caricature-ized. The funny thing is, I was at the local Krispy Kreme today, and was blown away by the fact that they'd put a pretty expensive Bose setup in the ceiling, and you know what? It didn't sound bad! Of course, my expectations weren't too high!
So I should have said Bose is a joke, not crap.
**My wife is a designer for a local builder, and sells Bose. She however is NOT an audiophile, and will never read this!**