Best Stereo Upgrade Value

In my case, speakers.

Lessloss firewall for loudspeakers!

Subwoofer (and/or speakers), DAC (or CDP), and then, preamp.

That is not a logical question.  The answer is, "IT DEPENDS."  If you have a ROOM that is not conducive to listening, it is YOUR ROOM, which is the MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT of ANY system.

Once your room is set, you will, as many here have suggested, look at your weakest component.  This is DIFFERENT for everyone at any given time.

If you wanted our shop to help you, we visited your room, made sure it was at least MINIMALLY conducive to listening (MANY factors here), and then we quizzed you on what type of music you typically listened to and how and why.  Background music at a party is (obviously) different from dedicated listening to orchestral or opera or rock or whatever.  Once we knew that, and the answer might be "every style of music," which is fine, we would look at what you had in your system and work from there.

The easiest thing to do, after making sure your room was good, was to put in our "best" hardware.  Back then, and today, it would be Audio Research electronics and Magnepan speakers for the most accurate reproduction of most recorded music, which you know is heavily "tweaked" by various participants along the way.

If this did not work in your room for some reason, we might add a sub-woofer or go to a quality box speaker like, well, back then it was Fulton, but today, there are many (all of them tall, for some unknown reason-ha-ha) that may be accurate for boxes.  We would probably keep the ARC electronics, but we sold many other brands, so sometimes this was a long process.

The point is, EVERYONE is different, so just throwing in the "best stuff" might not make YOU happy.

See?  Not really a logical question.  My advice:  Find a good dealer and go from there.  Most dealers of quality gear will approach your situation specifically.  You could just need a pre-amp or a cartridge change, but one never knows until doing due diligence.

Cheers, and happy listening! 

Component that stays the longest.

Transducers in the listening chair can provide subtle low frequency vibration similar to Dolby theaters. Less than $100.00. 

Preamp. Compared a 6SN7 based line stage to my 12AU7  based line stage. Put my 12AU7 based unit up for sale the next day. For me, it was all about synergy between components and the 6SN7 unit brought the system to that next level. Plus I learned that preamps have a huge impact on a system’s sound. Preamps are much, much more than a box to switch sources. 

Source without a doubt. BUT all others add to the SQ. Without a source you don’t start with the tone of the instruments such as violin, stand-up bass, piano and sax. Those all have a unique sound that the other components cannot compensate for in our opinion as audio manufacturers of each of these components.

Getting into this great hobby only a few years ago I went for end game right out of the gate but I would say speakers as well. Happy listening!

The preamp has been the single most important performance jump. A top DAC the second. Those changes allowed me to maximize performance of the rest of the system.

Speakers. I remember when I first started out 23+ years ago and going from Bose to Definitive Technology to B&W and then finally to Dynaudio. Each time offered a pretty significant jump in improvement. But pre Dyn nothing came close to the improvement the Danes offered. That first moment I sat for a true listen after my Audience 82's were broken in is EXACTLY what this hobby for me was all about. I never knew it could get that good. I will never ever forget and each time I listened thereafter I knew that was it and I had finally found what I was searching for...

@aewarren your reply made me laugh out loud! So true my friend. Nothing like listening in complete darkness but I have had more than 1 accident with that damn glass of wine😂😂!

Going from my much loved Kef Ref 4s which I had for 20 yrs to my Kef Ref 5s.

WoW - different class.

Getting rid of the Linn.

In my case, it was the pre-amp - Townshend Allegri Reference - the most expensive element of my humble system.

It's all about synergy.  Matching your speakers to your room and your music preferences.  Matching your amp to your speakers.  Finding the source that emphasizes  the qualities you find valuable.  The current buzz word seems to be musicality over micro detail.  Where on the spectrum do you see yourself and how much time and effort are you willing to spend to get there or is it just the dollars.  Both ways work but it's also possible to invest a lot and not achieve your goal if you aren't specific what you are looking for.

For me it's taken years maybe even decades to learn what I want to hear, what's important musically and how to get there.  My approach certainly isn't the only way but it sounds good to me and I feel I'm on the right track.

Weakest link is the place to start.

But if I had to choose, the source is the more important foundation than speakers. A $10K source with a $5K amp will sqeeze every drop of performance out of a $2K speaker and make it sound like a $5K speaker, rather than the other way around, as long as that $2K speaker is not randomly chosen.

Example I have heard:

Furutech passive power conditioner - Melco S100 with LPS - Lumin P1 - CODA CSiB - KEF LS50 Meta - Audioquest Diamond, Yukon, Coffee, Monsoon and Rocket 88 cabling.

Don't love KEF speakers but this setup taught me at least those particular KEFs can sound superb given a clean, powerful signal.

Phono stage, speakers, turntable, in that order.

" weakest link " is a great general answer.

In my case, I would say adding PS Audio power regenerator was the single biggest improvement. Before it I was using inexpensive Furman power conditioner.

Next, going from Redgum integrated to Burson separates linked by Wywires Diamond cables.

And third - putting old Purist Audio Dominus power cord on the power amp.

positioning your speakers optimally in your room

think of it like properly focusing your telescope

Isolation. Do what you can to isolate each component from the other.  In my case it was getting my speakers off the floor.  I use Townsend speaker bars, but there are plenty of other options. Next turntable then amp. It was incredible. 

I’d have to say it’s  the subwoofers that did  it for me. I’m running two subs but I purchased them one at a time. When I added the first one I was WOWED. And then when I added the second one it was close to having the same effect on me as I had when I heard the first one by itself. Two subwoofers really do make a big difference at all volume levels. 

Given that I have excellent speakers, the amp (integrated) probably made the most difference but the DAC then continued the changes further. I spent twice as much on the DAC as the amp.  I think in most systems the DAC is a fertile ground for improvment.

Jerry

acoustic treatments

 Just added a Rel Carbon Special sub. Just wow. So much controlled power. Like an AMG v8. Massive overall performance upgrade in my system. 

Everything

Listening in the dark. Just be careful with your glass of wine.

Deviating a bit...the biggest value jump in my Home Theater was replacing the standard cable to my 4K projector with an audiophile power cable. I really could hardly believe what I was missing.

@oddiofyl 

agreed. First heard that going back to ~1990.

hi ch

Speakers!

I think my answer is yes.

I have been dedicated to pursuing high end audio for 50 years… since in college. I swapped quite a few preamps, phono stages… then CD players when they came out in the beginning. Then, I’m thinking I have done five whole system upgrades… to a new much higher levels.

During that time one component really stood out as a enormous change: a tape deck, preamp, phono stage, turntable, speakers, streamer, and amp. So, at one point or another most components have been shockingly outstanding.

Subwoofers are often a help.

everything matters. great speakers will not make a poor source or amplification sound good, but great source and amplification will get the most out of decent speakers. Which is better? I once placed my $15k Shindo system in my bedroom setup with $500 speakers and it sounded great, the $1,200 bedroom system with my main system speakers accurately articulated the upstream deficiencies.

Bass traps

Speakers. Period.

Simply the weakest link.

That could be any item of gear.

Speakers!

Preamp.    Elevated system to a different level.   

Turntable/tonearm/cartridge/phono preamp.

IMO, it almost always starts, but necessarily ends, with the speakers.