No argument from me about speaker dispersion patterns and room interactions with same resulting in good or bad matches; not to mention the interaction between dispersion patterns and personal taste! Lots of variables and, OK, synergy there.
But I remain skeptical of synergy between electronic components, or between electronics and speakers. Unless (say) the output impedance of a line source or preamp is a bad match with the input impedance of the equipment to which it is connected (aren't there general standards for that?), or unless the amp has inadequate power for the speakers and room, I don't know what "x factor" would make for synergy between purely electronic components that measure well and are thus sonically transparent according to generally accepted standards. Or between a well designed modern amp which measures well and can handle any load it is likely to encounter, and the speakers it is driving. (I'm leaving aside exotic speakers that present unsually difficult loads and require unusually robustly designed amps to drive them.) Are there performance parameters unknown to me that would? Can they be tested objectively? Can they thus be consciously designed in to a component? Claims of a mysterious "x factor" upon which, in my experience, disussions of "synergy" in audio seem to rest implies an effect without a cause; which gets us away from science and into something like faith. Or at least a very tentative hypothesis!
I realize that, as with many non-scientists and non-engineers who strive to be technically literate in spite of their humanities background, I might be a bit more, um, dogmatic than a true scientist or engineer might be on a given subject, and ignorant of nuances and state-of-the-art theory. I am open to enlightenment and education.
Geeez, we've (I've) gone off on a tangent! Anyway, great article, my quibbles aside!