Here's some more reading on amplifiers, and
"HiFi Mysticism"
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-12752-p-6.html
http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/t.pl?f=general&m=311853
Both sites are great for all sorts of information on HiFi, from both
subjective and objective camps.
Personally, and all other factors being equal (Good quality components, not
state of the art but not broken designs, either) I find the factors
affecting the sound break down like this:
40% speakers/room accoustics
50% source material
10% everything else (system components, AC quality, etc...)
Keeping things quasi-on-topic, I've decided it's time to build a show
system, with blinkenlights and excessive switches and knobs and everything.
I've settled on the AOpen AX4GE Tube-G motherboard, if for no other reason
it's probably the first computer to have a tube on the mainboard since the
UNIVAC days. I can't find where to buy these beasts, however, so does anyone
know where to find maybe 1-2 year old computer surplus or closeouts? For
further retro-fun, I'm planning on putting in a POST code analyzer with big
LED display on the front of the case (ala IBM RS/6000 systems), one of those
retro-looking fan controllers, and Corsair XMS memory with LED status
indicators. Window on the side, of course :) Then I'll run Linux on it with
hercules and a fullscreen 3270 emulator plugged into OS/360. It'll be fun to
run at lan parties :)
PS: My system- Sumiko turntable, Sonic Frontiers Line 1 preamp, NAD 214 amp,
Audio Alchemy ACD1 CD player, Denon DVD-1600 DVD player, Magnepan MG-1.4
speakers, homebrew phono preamp and AC filters. Almost all used, sounds
fantastic.
Well you forgot one thing ... Room Accoustics
Ben.
PS: A real computer with the blinking lights.