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.
scottya118
I would think having a great amp with enough clean power would be #1 then quality speakers. If your amp doesn't have enough power or isn't good it doesn't matter what speakers you have.
scottya118
... 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 ...
Are you actually saying that cables have a greater impact on a system's sound than speakers, provided the cables are given the proper "emphasis?" If that's truly your opinion "based on recent experiences," I encourage you to get more experience. Listen to some better speakers.
Avoid DSP at all costs. Good devices will cost you a decent amount and the poor ones are a disaster. Regardless of how much you spend you will hear them and it will get worse as your system improves. 

At least MC didnt mention S.R. and Raven. I dont believe in censorship but enough already! I urge them (the Gon) to put an end to this nonsense.
2:08am"I give up. You guys are right. The Tekton Moab is the single most important component"......Stop schilling Tekton, no idea why the site doesnt ban your postings
Room and speaker

As far as the electronics,
Ivor Tiefenbrun (Linn Sondek) had it right with his famous saying.
"It all starts with the source", get that right and the battle is almost finished, get it wrong and nothing you do after it can fix it.   

Cheers George
I'm a strong believer in the first watt theory if the first watt doesn't sound good you're just amplifying mistakes but before that, the source has to be as good as it can be.  Great speakers will never sound great with a mediocre source..  Even Moabs need need quality components to show what they can do.... And a comfortable chair and snacks
I give up. You guys are right. The Tekton Moab is the single most important component.
In general I’d have to agree with McGowan about speakers being the most impactful and thus most important on an absolute basis, but that said I’d hate to pair expensive electronics with cheap speakers or vice versa. Seems kinda silly either way to me. Better to build a balanced system that synergizes to your tastes with no glaring weak links. I will say this is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say they’d emphasize cables — good luck with that, um, interesting strategy.
Every link in chain is important, so in a way I can't say any single component is most important. And yes, the room should be considered as a component! Having said that, over many years and many component changes I've come to believe the preamp may be the most important component. I consider it the 'heart' of the system, distributing the signal is like the heart distributing blood to the body, without properly operating heart the body suffers.
Speakers for me.  Never buy an amp and then try to match speakers to it.   Then if you get WAF, room acoustics.
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Garbage in, garbage out. Assuming relatively decent speakers, every improvement from source to amps will allow the speakers to reproduce the music with increasing accuracy.
Simply put, great loudspeakers sound better than great components with crappy loudspeakers.
But I'm willing to hear the OPs experience. 
Speakers, acoustic treatments and DSP, Source material preferably good digital. The rest of the electronics as long as distortion and noise is below human audible level are not that important.

This is my purpose made room 12ft ceilings, no equipment racks or anything between the speakers, just a short wall for bass loading 1mt behind the speakers.
I heard this similar setup back in the 1980’s at Sydney Symphony's orchestra conductors house, and I’ve never heard/seen image and depth sounding stage like it, until I did it myself, the depth of image goes out into the backyard.
https://ibb.co/GchxG4j

Cheers George
Speakers probably #1, but after that, I'd put line-stage preamp and/or phono stage. 
What is the most important component to consider while building a new system?
The room and the position of the speakers

Cheers George