It’s all a matter of degree

I’d say I’m in the first camp.  My idea is to balance the quality of components within the budget I set.  To me, it makes less sense to go all-out on one piece of equipment and then play it through the rest of the system that is much more compromised.  I see others here take the same route as me, wanting to upgrade the weak link in their system rather than an entire overhaul.  

I figure I have a lot of room to grow, given the imperfect listening room, indecision on what room treatments would help, not having dedicated lines to power my equipment (I need to clear out a lot of junk, including another’s stuff, before the electrician could access the panel).  I haven’t tried special fuses or stones, or springs— I figure those things are a lesser priority to the things I already mentioned.  

I find there are times when I most enjoy low-level, mellow listening sessions and fewer times when I play at 80 db, or even 70 db.  I only listen loud in my car, where I look to rock out rather than mellow out. 

A method is not a sum of "tweaks"....

precisely - which is why the novice is best advised to purchase a set of about four or five top quality fuses as their system’s core, and then build carefully from this solid foundation, being careful to ensure that all subsequent purchases are rated accordingly.

Am I reading this correctly - Build a system around 4 or 5 fuses as your system's core? This takes precedence over matching speakers with amplification?  Maybe that's not what you meant.

The tweak is final ingredient added to recipe, just a pinch of whatever spice.

I’m quite happy with my system right now and haven’t made any changes in some time.I’ve done my share of tweaking over the years but found that most are short-lived and of little value. The things that have worked are based on solid engineering principles,

You know the job is done when you listen to the music instead of the equipment.