Poll: Most impactful component

Speakers are the voice of the system, amplifier is the heart and the pre is the soul, so I will give it the most importance, because in my experience over the years, an otherwise good system can be ruined by a poor pre. That said, speakers are also greatly important, especially for preserving coherency and dynamics.

@jjss49 

Reading what you wrote made me reconsider, because I realized that I have changed speakers 20 times over the years before settling in long term, and therefore I voted with my wallet, and over the years speakers were apparently the most critical link.

Oh good. It didn't seem like something that you would say, which is why I was surprised. My apologies.

@noromance 

"As digital sources all sound the same, I can see how folks assume the speakers make the biggest difference."

I'm surprised that you would make such an ignorant comment.

@lordrootman 

I'm with you on the speakers. There's a current thread asking if there are any really good speakers for $10k. I read that and felt like I was in another world, because after I spent a fortune on a 19 other speakers, I discovered the Epic CF4 version 1, and they were the best I have ever owned.

True. It's funny, after all of the thought and research that I did for other speakers that I bought, I bought these on a lark because I read a single customer review, and a short time later I found a pair of Version 1's for sale and bought them on a lark because I had 1k sitting around that wasn't spoken for. It is truly the best money I ever spent on audio.