Progressive Rock

The majority of my collection is rock and I have built my system accordingly. I have the VR4 GenIII spkrs that Tvad mentioned mated with an Ayre V-1x amp and modded Meridian CDP. I'm currently on a tube preamp search & am now auditioning a Thor.

I was at the CES earlier this year & had a very heavy bass track on a rock song that I carried with me & asked to be played & guess which room it sounded the best in? Yep, with the VR SR's. Interestingly, Albert was using big tube amps (VAC) to power these, so synergy is key.

As important as synergy is, personal taste should be what dictates your choices but if I had $12k to spend on spkrs, I would also audition the Avalon Eidolon, which can be had used at that price and also the Montana KAS, along with the VR SR's.

I would say the emphasis w/rock would be a spkr. that produces plenty of bass, so a large floorstander would fit the bill. Some folks might opt for standmounts w/sub but I've never liked the integration. Depends on personal preferences.

Then in order to deliver the music in excess of 100 dB's w/o distortion (if required), one would need to have an amp capable of doing the job. Not meaning to deviate into an amp thread or any other component, let me just say not all amps (components) are created equal & some will do the intended job better than others. Again, remember it's all about personal tastes.

The source would need to be on the warmer side of neutral to cover up recording flaws & the cables would follow this pattern. Of course this IMO and that's how I like to listen.

I agree with your precept that the system doesn't know what it's playing, so a good sounding system should be able to reproduce all music accurately but different genres of music emphasize different aspects of sound reproduction & not all stereo gear does all of these things the same way.

It basically boils down to individual taste & I believe the more we personalize our systems, the more it tends to be in line with the type of music we prefer.