Rivieraranch, yes I agree!  And you get way more mileage and enjoyment out speakers and electonics since they are pretty much integrated into our lives one way or another every day.

My wife has a closet full of expensive purses collecting dust that she rarely (if ever) uses, where as music and movies are enjoyed in our household every day!

favorite?  really! you expect us to be able to pick a favorite?  I liked them all!!  I like the type of sound the ERR's produce.  The HR-1's sound like a more resolute ERR and if I had to pick just one, it might be the HR-1 driven by a Tori.  But I got a tell you, the ZOB's get it done for me too.  

The real surprise for me, was the mini's(945's).  No doubt they're voiced toward the warm side with a bit of a bump in the mid-bass, but they had the most "holographic" sound I heard.  The image was completely detached from the speakers and was floated above and behind them no matter where you stood in the room.  I listened to them standing up for most of the time and the soundstage remained stable - sitting or standing.  I could live with these speakers for a long time in an average size room and they would be enough except for more rowdy music that I want to play "loud and proud".

This was my first zenfest and I was plesantly surprised by all the Decware gear.  There's not a bad apple in the bunch.  It's more a matter of what will work best in your room, and then believe Steve when he tells you which amp will work best for a given Decware speaker in a particular size room.  Depends on your own listening preferences too of course, as well as what type of music you listen to the most.

HDT's sounded great also.  I think long term, for me personally, I would pair them with one of the single-ended Decware amps.

It would be real tough to pick just one amp and one speaker... IMO there wasn't a "best"... they were all great - just "different".  As always - trust your own ears!!!!

depends on the amp, your room, your music preferences and which particular aspects of music reproduction you tend to be particularly sensitive to.  But I enjoyed the 945's and am even contemplating getting a pair - just because.  And also because... after 30 yrs in this hobby, I have learned one thing - well actually a few.  There is no such thing as the perfect speaker.  And though there is no perfect speaker, there are types of speakers that tend to do certain sonic attributes better than others.  And there are certain types of speakers that tend to reproduce certain kinds of music better than others.  This is why I currently own four dramatically different “types” of speakers….  A pair of conventional dynamic drivers, a pair of monopole ribbon hybrids, electrostats and my latest DIY, a high-efficiency, full-range single driver pair.  Now… if I just had a room for each one and electronics for each one, so that I could leave them all setup all the time… and just go from room, to room to room depending on my musical mood at the time… I’d be all set!