I agree with Ehider that the system is only as good as the weakest link. However, with all the components in a system being comparable, I would say that the cables closest to the source is the most important, then from preamp to amp, then the speaker cables. If you think about it, if you use crappy cables between the source and the preamp, no matter how wonderful the cable you use between the preamp and the amp, the sound is already degraded or colored. You will just be producing accurate sounds of what your cheapy cables produced. Work from the source-preamp to preamp-amp to speaker cables.
what's the most vital cable in a system?
I was wondering what IS the most important cable in a system if one was to rank them (#1 being the most important and so on)...A local dealer said that to him, a digital cable is the most important cable if your system calls for it....Well, my set up is a Classe CAP80 integrated, Epos ES14 on dedicated stands, a Toshiba SD1200 DVD/CD player, an MSB Link III DAC, and a Monarchy DIP jitter box. I use 2 digital cables with this set up - Canare digiflex and a Monster Video 2. I am thinking of upgrading the Monster digital cable...As for the rest of my cables, I'm using a Synergistic Research Mark II interconnect and Audioquest Indigo + speaker cables?...comments???