I always start with a good look at the room I'm going to be dealing with and any placement issues I'll have in this room...speaker setup is critical to good sound.
Sound pressure levels, setup issues within the room, your budget, are a good place to start.
Why do I start there?, well because I'm going to pick the speakers as my place to begin the system build.
The rest of the components fall into two categories:
1. Mandatory...ie, their task is assigned by specific needs but with some overlap into #2 (tweaks)
2. Tweaks...ie, components you pick because YOU like the way they sound in YOUR system...cd players/Dac's/cables come to mind.
I never worry about the old argument for starting at the source "crap in, crap out". Why would anyone build a system only to top it off with crap?
Research, listening and a good plan with some degree of flexibility should build you a system you can enjoy for a long time.
Dave
Sound pressure levels, setup issues within the room, your budget, are a good place to start.
Why do I start there?, well because I'm going to pick the speakers as my place to begin the system build.
The rest of the components fall into two categories:
1. Mandatory...ie, their task is assigned by specific needs but with some overlap into #2 (tweaks)
2. Tweaks...ie, components you pick because YOU like the way they sound in YOUR system...cd players/Dac's/cables come to mind.
I never worry about the old argument for starting at the source "crap in, crap out". Why would anyone build a system only to top it off with crap?
Research, listening and a good plan with some degree of flexibility should build you a system you can enjoy for a long time.
Dave