Goodness WillieWonky, you must surely have your tongue in both cheeks.
Possibly in order to sell his turntable which at that time was his only product, Ivor Tiefenbrun used to say the source was crucial - garbage in, garbage out. Indeed, since he made more money out of the TTs that Linn made themselves (unlike their arms and cartridges made in Japan), he said the TT is the most crucial.
Not sure I go with Ivor there, but there must surely be truth in this source doctrine since a poor music signal can never be corrected by the down-line components. Indeed the errors will be amplified and rendered truthfully in all their ugliness by the best amplifiers and speakers.
But all the posts above ignore one very big element - component matching. It is essential to see the system as holistic. It's no good buying a string of top-price, well-reviewed pieces and just assuming they will work well together.
Possibly in order to sell his turntable which at that time was his only product, Ivor Tiefenbrun used to say the source was crucial - garbage in, garbage out. Indeed, since he made more money out of the TTs that Linn made themselves (unlike their arms and cartridges made in Japan), he said the TT is the most crucial.
Not sure I go with Ivor there, but there must surely be truth in this source doctrine since a poor music signal can never be corrected by the down-line components. Indeed the errors will be amplified and rendered truthfully in all their ugliness by the best amplifiers and speakers.
But all the posts above ignore one very big element - component matching. It is essential to see the system as holistic. It's no good buying a string of top-price, well-reviewed pieces and just assuming they will work well together.