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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
troidelover1499
253 posts
 
Dollar amount can be a way to prioritize but I think that is a kind of different question than what is being discussed.  I certainly believe it is the speakers that is super important and how they perform in the room they are used in.
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berner99
214 posts
 
Speakers are the only component that can determine the radiation pattern of how sound is distributed in your room. 

For those of us who like dipoles e.g. maggies, omnis e.g. ohm/space pods, open baffle e.g. Spatial audio, wide dispersion e.g. LSA bookshelf  that is make or break.  
mozartfan
2,143 posts
 
actual sound being produced in the room, and that is always the speaker


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Exactly, 
You could take jadis' finest compoments, well over $100G's. , tap into a  brand xyz speaker, and thats all you'll get 
is a generic crappy sound. 

Would best phono, amp/source hooked up to a Vandersteen, will sound exactly like a  **Vandersteen* image, 
No thanks!!
AS Troels says, **past 50 yrs the speakers have been a  source of bad distortion in our music**
(paraphrase mine)

The most neutral speaker wins the shootout, Its not rocket science folks. 
polkalover
100 posts
 
The most important component to consider is YOU.  End of story.  I've learned that in this hobby to build a system based around what's important to you.  This hobby is completely subjective so the most important component is YOU. 

If we used science to enjoy the music we'd never play a record again, yet most of us do!  
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