Back in the days when I worked at an audio shop, we used to do a little demonstration for folks, regarding the order of importance in a system. We were a Linn dealer at that time, and Linn was one of the first promoters of the source argument.
We took the customer into the reference listening room. Then we played the LP12/Ittok/Karma thru a Naim 32/250 into the cheapest set of speakers that we had in the store, which were Boston Acoustics A-40. We played an album side, and let him get a feel for the sound.
Then we took out the A-40s, and plugged on the Linn DMS Isobarik top line speakers, and also a Rega Planar 3 with a Goldring cartridge instead of the Linn TT. Played the same album side again.
Notice with one system, we used our best source(LP12) and lowest speakers(A-40). With the other system, we used our best speakers(DMS) and a moderate quality source(P3). The amps and preamp were the same in both cases.
The customer always came to the same conclusion. Even with the best speakers we had, the lower quality source made the system sound worse, than the higher quality source with bottom line speakers.
So, if you have ever done direct listening comparisons in a controlled environment, swapping speakers and sources, you would come to the same conclusion as I have. The source will get the music to the speaker, and the speaker(even a cheap one) will produce it to some degree. If the music never gets to the speaker, not even the best speaker can reproduce it. The idea that a great speaker can make up for a source that doesn't supply the needed musical information is a total fallacy.
And notice that I did not use a demonstration that used some kind of total crap for the lower quality source. A Rega P3 is a well regarded lower priced TT, and is definitely not skewing the test. It is just at a lower performance level than the LP12. The DMS Isobariks could not make up for the lack of information coming into the system from the Rega. But the little Boston Acoustics A-40s could sound better(musically) than the big DMS speakers, when fed better source information. No, the frequency extension and sonic fireworks were not the same with the A-40s, but the music sounded more musical. For people who listen to music, and not audiophile sound-effects, this is the most critical issue, musicality. I hope that this helps to clear things up in some people's minds about this issue.
