Quote:
Rank these categories 1st to last in order of tangible impact on the end performance of a stereo listening system:
~Source components
~Receiver/Integrated Amp/Processor/Preamp
~Outboard DAC
~Amplification
~Speakers
~Subwoofer
~Component wiring
~Speaker wiring
~Speaker stands
~Power conditioner
~Equipment stands/isolation
~Computer
~Room dimensions
~Room treatments
~Speaker placement

My list in order of importance:

1. Speakers

2. Subwoofer

3. Amplification

4. Room dimensions

5. Room treatments

6. Preamp

7. DAC/Source components

8. Speaker placement

9. Speaker stands

10. Speaker wiring

11. Power conditioner

12. Component wiring

13. Computer

Equal 1st. Speakers (including sub-woofer), speaker placement, room dimensions construction & geometry, room treatments.
Equal 2nd source components, amplification etc.
Equal 3rd Component wiring, ( presuming that means internal wiring inside amps etc) Speaker wiring, interconnects

Who the hell needs a computer, speaker stands or outboard DAC anyway!
Really though, I hate these kinds of simplistic questions as it's the synergy of all these things and how intelligently ( or unintelligently) they're all chosen that really is more important than any single ingredient. You can assemble a collection of superb components, place them in a well designed room and still end up with something as musical as a pig fart if any of them are badly mismatched. Oh, and what about the fidelity (remember that word?) of the recordings themselves?
Next question?

I was going to try and answer this but the question is too simplistic.

After over 25 years in the world of audio professionally and otherwise and now 10 years in the world of video, professional and otherwise..in design, in both fields - both source, room, acoustics, wiring, speakers, circuit design, individual component design, as in drivers, capacitors, inductors, charge (nature of signal), cabinets, video screens, video projector implementation, optics design, research in hearing and human cranial function and internal design physiological, psychological, origins of such,..in both audio and video and overall human endeavor.... perceptive limits of the body and mind, and beyond..metals design, molecular function, elemental function, time, energy, etc..etc...I'd say the question is too simplistic to get a good result.

The "source" is not as important as the source material and how it was handled in the translation into recorded media. I'd rather have an excellent 78 than a crappy CD. The end user can do little to nothing to change how the recording was made. The next consideration would be the other relative constant in any system, the space it occupies. After the room itself, not just in terms of simple dimensions but equally if not more importantly the structural integrity of the space, and the placement and set up of the whole system within that space, everything else is secondary. In what order that would be is up to individual interpretation, an interpretation which not infrequently is influenced by which component the user has most recently purchased.

Quote:
I was going to try and answer this but the question is too simplistic.

After over 25 years in the world of audio professionally and otherwise and now 10 years in the world of video, professional and otherwise..in design, in both fields - both source, room, acoustics, wiring, speakers, circuit design, individual component design, as in drivers, capacitors, inductors, charge (nature of signal), cabinets, video screens, video projector implementation, optics design, research in hearing and human cranial function and internal design physiological, psychological, origins of such,..in both audio and video and overall human endeavor.... perceptive limits of the body and mind, and beyond..metals design, molecular function, elemental function, time, energy, etc..etc...I'd say the question is too simplistic to get a good result.

Would it be feasible to create your list?

If it would be too much typing, feel free to say it would be too much work, but your take on this would be quite interesting, I bet!

Room dimensions
Speakers
Subwoofer
Room treatments
Receiver/Integrated Amp/Processor/Preamp
Amplification
Outboard DAC
Component wiring
Speaker stands
Equipment stands/isolation
Speaker wiring
Power conditioner
Computer

I'll cheat a little and say the most important element is being an avid listener who takes the time to seek out live music, then...oversimplifying...and based on a qualifying statement about my capricious mood...

1) Source components: Without the source, nothing can proceed. Clump record playback, digital sources, etc. here. Be it DAC, or whatever from your list.

2) Amplification. I'm clumping together the amp/preamp, or integrated here. Do as little harm t the signal as possible and good things will happen. I was once at a Stereophile Show and heard Cello electronics run a small pair of AR speakers, and the fine amplification chain OWNED those speakers. It was an amazing demo, and flipped my appreciation for great electronics over speakers. (I should say, however, that sometimes I will list speakers in this slot, so it's a close relationship.)

3) Room: Dimensions, placement, and/or treatments. If the room won't allow good speaker performance, even speakers like the mighty Wilsons or Hansens will be a waste of money. Mike Fremer mentions this to good effect in his Hansen update in the March issue.

Lots of good things can still happen in a bad room, so it's hard to rank this precisely. Maybe it's really number two!

4) Speakers. Likely the place in the equipment chain where there is the most readily noticed sonic variability, but many speakers can make for enjoyable and 'precise' listening experiences...you just have to dial in your own sensibilities about which aspects of 'accurate' you are most concerned with. I'd put speakers as the piece of gear with the greatest person to person variation in sensibilities.

Then there is a big drop off, for me.

5) All the rest. From here on down, you are 'salting to taste.'

6) Last is computer - I haven't yet crossed that Hi Fi divide in a meaningful fashion.

Fun thread, by the way!

You talking to me?!

You talking to ME?!!!

I don't think so.

The most important thing is to put on some of your favorite music, sit down and then enjoy the music. If your happy with the sound and think that you're CD's/LP's sound great than that is all that matters

room. speakers. amps. nothing else matters really.

I used to think it was speakers that were the main thing.

I bought some really good speakers in the early 1980s; they sounded fabulous at the store, but never that good at my house.

I finally started to realize that the most fundamental thing in the world is; garbage in, garbage out. My experience tells me that you should start with the best source possible, and then eventually improve the amplification, and that very modestly-priced speakers are fine until you get the rest of the system whipped into shape. That doesn't mean choose any damn speaker; it DOES mean choose wisely but don't spend the bulk of your money there first!

My really good speakers were doing a really good job of reproducing the distorted sound that was coming from my lousy turntable and lousy CD player and getting distorted even more by my mediocre amplification. It sounded like shit, in other words.

I have done experiments where a really good source and a really good amplifier were used with some speakers that were quite inexpensive, but good quality, and the result was often very nice-sounding indeed.

If it is bad when it leaves your CD player or turntable, a set of good speakers will reproduce BAD, and sound BAD! I have been there and done that.

I firmly believe, after 40 years of trying to get perfect sound reproduction (I'm getting closer, hee-hee, ha-ha...lol) that you had better start at the source and get the best you can. If you don't, comparisons you make in the electronics and speakers will be difficult and non-productive; you may be choosing what makes the bad sound from your source sound less bad, and that means INACCURACY, not accuracy; that will take you in the wrong direction in what you purchase, especially in the amplification you choose.

I really get fed up with reviews that say something like "this thing isn't very accurate, but it had this nice "bloom", or "softness", or euphonic sound""...duhhhh...in otherwards, this stuff masks the bad stuff that may be coming from the source by reproducing in a highly inaccurate manner...BARPHPHPHPH!!!!!!

To me that is like taking a piece of spoiled meat and going to great trouble and expense to provide the seasonings and sauces that will nearly make it palatable.

If I was advising someone who wanted to spend $6000 to startup, for example, with a CD-based system, I would say spend $3000 on the CD player, $2000 on a good integrated amp, and $1000 on speakers. That monetary distribution will, in most cases, yield the best sound for that kind of money.
The second step would be to upgrade the amplification, and last the speakers. Pick a source component good enough that you may never need to upgrade it, and build your system on that rock.

I'll bite. You may not like my answer but so be it.

1. Your ears
I thank my ENT Doctor.

2. The room
This includes any treatment

3. Source material
You know LP's CD's etc.

4. The speakers
Self explanatory

5. The gear itself
Amps, tuners etc

This makes sense from my perspective. If you can't hear, what's the point. If you have no room..... See my point! It is a tossup between 4 and 5.

Quote:
room. speakers. amps. nothing else matters really.

Do you really think that the source doesn't matter?

I put the source as number one. If the room is horrible I'll use my cans to eliminate it from the equation.

Dave