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What is most important part of a system?

I remember reading someone saying that the most important part of a system was the source. I thought "Wrong! Speakers are the most important".
 
Now, I have changed my mind. Source is the most important part.

Right or wrong but this is how I came to this conclusion;

I have tried the same system with a CD player and a turntable. By far LP sounds better than a CD. Btw, the system had all high-end amps, speakers, cables, etc.

What is most important part of a system for you?


celo
plutos
224 posts
 
I respectfully disagree.
Of course, it is critical that amp works well with your speakers and is powerful enough to properly control them, but the rest will not fall into place with this.
Maybe I never had any bad amps in my system, but in my experience the difference between (rightly chosen) amps is smaller than a difference between preamps and source components. 
gshepardbuster's avatar
gshepardbuster
620 posts
 
IMO room/speaker interface and amp(s) to speaker interface.  
plutos
224 posts
 
IMO room/speaker interface and amp(s) to speaker interface.
Agree these are fundamental things, but assuming these are ok, then my ranking is 1. speakers, 2. preamp, 3. source, 4. amp, 5. vibration control, cables etc.

bigkidz
3,325 posts
 
plutos  I agree that it all starts from a source, but if preamp is not able to deliver it without veiling and distorting the signal, the source makes no big difference.

I would disagree with that statement.  Again, I have built various preamps, amps, DAC's etc.  I also have repaired components for over 25 years.  Any preamp that I have repaired goes into my system just to make sure it works as it should.  I hear the differences in them but having what I consider is one of the best sources, you can hear what my source does without question.  Each preamp has a sound but they do allow the source to flow though without an issue.  The sound only gets better with better preamps.  Someone mentioned TVC, yep I use one in my active preamp that has no caps in the signal path.  The amps make a difference but overall the source IMO again from building my own components does not have the degree of sound improvement compared to the source.  The speakers improve the sound but the source still has the most effect on the sound.  Happy Listening!

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