Speakers First?

You are right about the difficulty of making meaningful comparisons and hearing all the choices on the market. The best thing I ever did was to get off my duff and spend the time and money to go to a good audio show where I could audition lots of speakers in close temporal proximity. The only downside (if you can call it that) was that I quickly realized how important good speakers are and I spent at least twice as much as I thought I needed to before going to Axpona. However, the upside is that I have finally quit wondering if I can do better and just enjoy listening.

I know buying speakers first is the old school mantra, and that the amp/speaker combination is the most important thing of all. However, I would not say that finding speakers for a particular amp is crazy backwards, as Elizabeth seems to think. She loves her Maggies, Maggies require a lot of power, that is fine.

Some love single ended tube amps, which require more efficient speaker designs, there is nothing wrong with that choice either. One path is not more or less crazy than the other. I have heard systems designed from both approaches, and when the amp/speaker combo is right, they both work equally well. There are many ways to reach audio nirvana, there is not one specific road with a map.

I would go to as many stores as I could if I were you, and listen to music. Don't go with any preconceived ideas in your head, listen to all types of speaker and amplifier combinations. Take along lots of software that you are familiar with. Find the one that you like the best, then try to keep that combination together (amp and speaker).

Source can be filtered in later and is not as important as getting the amp/speaker combo right. Obviously you cannot drag your equipment all over town, but if you find a dealer that will allow you to try various sources in your own room at home, obviously this is a dealer to hold on to and support. Enjoy the ride.

Cheers,
John

+1 John, success can be had either way. My system is built around an 8 watt SET amplitier and the final system's music reproduction actually exceeded my lofty expectations. This SET does limit speaker choice, but speaker first will limit suitable amplifier selection as well( there's always some compromise to accept). I'm certain many people have found satisfaction with following one or the other route.
Charles,

While I very much appreciate John and Charles thoughtful input in their posts on this forum, consider this another vote in the speaker camp. Not that amp speaker synergy shouldn't be a consideration, and the appeal of the SET sound they love is considerable. But that said, I'd at the very least tilt your total amount invested very strongly toward the speaker side. IME the speaker will have the greatest impact on your overall sound, and you will get biggest bang for your buck spending on speakers.

That said, if you do have amp preferences that should be taken into account, especially if you value the SET or OTL amp sound. Those amps will limit what speakers are good matches. But at any price point you can find speakers to match an amp preference.

Barring a mismatch, any suitable amp should give you a good idea of what a speaker is capable, even if that can be improved upon with proper component matching.

The speaker/amp combo is *hardly* the most important interface. That belongs to the speaker/room interface. Don't get that right and there is nothing you can do...

-RW-