What to add to my system for best sound?

I have a different opinion than anyone else:)

I have built two different systems in my life, so I dont want to give any confusion about my skill at this! all I can tell you is what my ears heard!

my first system was
NHT SuperTwo speakers running off an old crappy receiver, so I got the upgrade itch and picked up:
Parasound HCCA 1500a (~600$)
adcom 565 pre (~300$)
ah tjoeb 99 cdp and some JPS ultraconductors (~300$)

Thats how I decided to spend my 1000$ and to be honest the sound improvement was tiny. I think the biggest difference was the nice sound from the ah tjoeb cd player...so after about 9 months I sold out all the gear and figured I'd try again with a bit more money and hope for some better results!

my second system I started with Tyler Acoustic Ref Monitors after reading some great reviews (~1300)
I plugged these into the same crappy receiver I had running off a random dvd player and instanly the sound FAR eclipsed the sound from my last system!! and I mean FAR eclipsed it!
every single thing about the sound was better.

SO right there I'd say dump every penny into your speakers.

However I can go on! I got the upgrade bug again soon after and after reading all the talk on here about how upstream gear makes such a difference I went on a spending spree!!
I picked up:
CAL CL15 cdp (~700$)
Rogue Magnum 66/88 (pre/amp) (~2000$)

I did a few a/b comparisons with my crappy receiver/dvd player and my new 2700$ gear and the difference just isn't there...its not even close to the leap in sound I heard from upgrading my speakers.

SO! I figured it must be my cable sucks, my rat shack interconnects/speaker cable etc.
So I picked up some signalcable (~70$) speaker cable and a pair of (~130$) MusicLink Plus interconnects and they have made an audible difference!
Everything is sounding great these days, I've kept all the gear and need to do another a/b switch with my old crappy reciever/dvd player, but I'm gonna bet the difference will once again be negligible.

SOOO!!! what I have experienced is that (room treatments aside) 96% of the sound quality I now have has come from getting better speakers, 2% has come from cable upgrades and the other 2% I attribute to an upgraded cdp/amp/pre

Feel free to flame me and tell me my ears suck:)
I'm just telling ya what I hear

Julie,
Welcome to audiogon. Some simple suggestions:
1. Play with the speaker placement and room treatments first. There are some great posts about this.
2. As you can tell from the previous posts, there is no right answer. Trust your own ears.
3. A music system is only as good as its weakest link. Try to decide how much money you're willing to spend on hardware and balance that amount over the entire system. Save money for software (the most important part).

All the best to you with your quest for sonic nirvana.

Joel

I have a cheap $100 CD player (Yamaha - which I hope to upgrade soon) and a pair of Klipsch speakers I bought 8 years ago for $300 (your Axioms are better). I just bought a Jolida 1501rc integrated hybrid amp (tube pre-amp and ss amp) and was amzed at how much it improved the sound..check Underwood Hi-Fi for a good deal.

I would second the above recommendation...upgrade to a better amp and spent $400 on a CD...maybe Music Hall, which people seem to love.

David

Based on your comments...you "want the sound to draw you in more"(and more detail)...audiophiles call this "involvement"...and my many years of listening have brought me to this...you can upgrade your source and amp all you want(which in your case wouldnt hurt)...but to truly be immersed in a musical performance...there is nothing like a time/phase coherent speaker design...in your range: Vandersteen 1,Meadowlark swift, Green Mountain Europas(which I own)...of the 3...the Europas are the most detailed but require stands(always a hidden cost)...good luck...

Geoff --

I will not flame you. I agree that an upgrade in speakers is usually the biggest bang for the buck. And, not a controversial some people claim to hear it while others don't kind of thing like high end cables. The kind of obvious everyone hears it no doubt about it this sounds so
much better kind of thing.

But, I also believe you need some balance in a system. So, I also believe a good way to upgrade is to improve the
weakest link. In her system, I think the speakers are the
strongest link. At some point, you need better components to get the most out of your speakers and I believe that upgrading the other two components will help get more out of those speakers.

There is also a real noticeable difference between a receiver and an integrated amp or separates and I believe
her speakers have enough resolution to be able to hear the difference a nice integrated amp like the Jolida will make.

Further, I believe that digital technology has really improved and higher end technology is filtering down into
players at a lower price point. I have noticed a large
difference when a system is balanced; Nice speakers served by appropriate amplification being fed by a nice
CD player.

Finally, I believe there are some components that give a
much bigger bang for the buck and when one is on a budget,
it is best to seek out those types of components -- like
the Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CD player and the Jolida hybrid integrated.