John,
In my post above in this thread, this is addressed. I have reproduced teh relevant text below:
"The SECOND approach is: Buy imperfect components that somehow "mesh" together, often by cancelling out each other, and adding euphonic distortions, etc, and somehow make the whole sound musical. Often, they may actually make poorly recorded material sound more "natural" and also counter room issues.
I believe ALL tube amp owners follow this approach (whether they admit to it or realize it or not)! It's fun. and can result in suprprising good sound, not to mention a collection of fun TUBE amps. "

BTW, John, I have serious doubts that a stradivaius will measure the same as a cheap violin. It will differ along many aspects that are measurable (freq curve, distortion, spectral decay, etc).
thanks
-akhilesh