Ok this will be a good thread.

Speakers make a huge difference in the sound when you change from speaker to speaker, but that doesn't necessarily make them the most critical link in the chain.

I heard a system whose emphasis was on big, expensive speakers and amps but down-played the source with a mediocre CD player. The sound was mediocre. Huge Dunlavys (SC-5's), VTL double-decker amps (750's, I believe), VTL Ultimate pre-, and a cheapie Panasonic CDP. Power in the bass and high SPL's, but muddy and confused sounding.

While I did not get the chance to switch things around in that same system, I did get the chance to hear a Linn TT (LP12/Itok/Lingo), a Creek Integrated (5050, I think) and ProAc Response 3's. (Don't get me wrong, I am NOT a Linnie; the LP12 is NOT my favorite TT.) I much preferred the Linn/Creek/ProAc set up.

Hardly a conclusive illustration, but it made me sit up and notice the importance of the source.

Asa makes a good point: it depends on your perspective as you navigate your Audio obsession. The trick is to get a workable balance among all the pieces.

Anyone: At what junction would you place your best interconnect? If you had only one superior pair of interconnects and one serviceable pair of interconnects on hand, and you had to choose to place them between your front-end and the pre-amp or between the pre-amp and the power-amp(s), where would you deploy them?

The way you answer that question might help guide one's priority of audio gear importance.

Try the experiment to find out what happens.

I recently had to figure this interconnect deployment issue out. My system had vastly improved performance when I placed the better interconnect between the front-end and the pre-amp; only marginally better (than my usual ICs) when placed between the pre-amp and the power-amps. In fact, some performance characteristics were worse when the better ICs were in used between the pre- and power-amps (and the serviceable pair had to go after the front-end).

I believe this experience was instructive in the source vs. speaker debate. Try it.

Some folks maintain that super accurate speakers, used at the end of a fairly flawed system, would theoretically make the sound WORSE (than if just serviceable speakers had been used) because all the upstream flaws would be revealed that much more blatantly.

I once heard a system that had some low level Phillips CDP, a VTL Ultimate pre', VTL Wotans, and huge Dunlavey speakers (don't remember the model). Sound was not very good at all: murky, veiled, disjointed. One of the most unsatisfying large systems I had ever heard.