Next Biggest Improvement after Speakers ?

rushton is right on. amps and speakers are a marriage some work well together and some dont. also, cables play a very important part in having everything come together ( cables are just as important as a component imo)

your front end and pre amp are extremely important. it all starts at your front end, if your source isnt musical, then it will not make to your pre and then to your amps and then your speakers.

overall your system is only as good as weakest link. it hard to find a good preamp (they start @ $3k new and $1500 used). there are plenty of good amp, speakers, sources, and cables. getting it all to work together ( ie synergism) is a completely differnt story.

all of us remember when we heard our first high end system, chances are it was in a audio shop and waaayyy more than could be afforded.

so you start assemblying your system piece by piece in hopes of it sounding like you the first system you heard or maybe better as hear more systems.

the sad truth is there are no 2 exact systems anywhere in the world with the same type of room.

as you go along your expectactions change and your notice that good components start @ $3k each and good cables start at $600 each (imo)

so during this whole process ( it is fun) you will find certain combinations of gear work together well and it really takes a very good dealer to help you out and / or other audiophiles and it takes 1-2 years to sometimes tweak a system ( thats how long in my case) and i am know starting to get good sound after 10 years at this.

hope this helped.

mike

IMO--

Speakers
Source
Preamp
Power Amp
Cables

Hi, My ears say it's the room and speaker set-up. Speakers should be properly position and nothing (no rack, stand or TV) between them. As for the gear,if you listen at mostly low to moderate levels and have high eff.speakers (1) an all tube integrated amp, very musical and involving sound.(2) (The right match of cables for synergy.(3) Try 2 dedicated lines(1 digital,1 analog) also with upgraded outlets.(sold my line conditioner)(4) In some rooms a powered sub is needed to help the tube integated amp and speakers out.(5)And of course a cd/dvd player(with the right player this could be no. (2) on your list. 24/96 or 24/192, dac,tubes, dvd-a , sacd, what ever sounds good to you. Overall keep it simple and fun and try a few free tweaks. Jerry

You left one out: the ROOM.

Brian Walsh

All good answers, the room is very important and can be 50% of the sound or more sometimes. The Speaker and amp marriage is critical. I recently upgraded to different speakers and when I got them home, they sounded like crap, not musical at all. I tried a bunch of preamps to get the sonics to improve but in the end chaning the amp gave me the synergy that I needed. The a good source is critical to get you to the next level. One you have the sonics you are looking for then you need to see what peramp will work with your system, every component sounds different as do cables, rooms, etc. so that you time to find what you are looking for and experiment.

Happy Listening.