10 years into my audio odyssey I spent a year in England where I purchased a pair of Harbeth Compact 7s and custom Target Audio stands. I hooked them up to my roommates cheap mass market receiver and CD player in his loft, a lovely room with high angled ceilings and good acoustics. Sounded excellent. Did they sound better after freighting them back to the states at the end of my tour connected up to my all Naim system in a 10 x 12 x 8 room? A little better in some ways worse in others. My takeaway—get the speakers and room right first and foremost.
What is the most important component to consider while building a new system?
I recently viewed a You Tube video featuring Paul McGowan from PS Audio discussing the most important component when building a new system. I love Paul's video's and feel they bring a personalized touch to the discussions of all things audio. In the video mentioned Paul took a generalized approach in stating the speakers were the most important component to consider and that the relevant importance of each successive component rested in the chain down stream of the speakers. I am writing this to humbly disagree. I am in the mist of building a new system from scratch over the past 9 months. It has been my experience that if proper care is taken to the quality of the amp. pre-amp. and cables (with an emphasis on cables) you can get away with relatively inexpensive speakers that sound better than they have a right to. This is my own opinion based on recent experiences.