Next Biggest Improvement after Speakers ?

The smart ass answer would be the next biggest improvement after 'buying' the speakers is

1. placing them in the correct locations in your listening room

2. treating the room.

Then get a good amp to load them to your room. Then re-treat the room again (to dial in bass response and soundstaging/imaging, which would all improve with a better amp). This answer may give you a little more to work with.

FWIW - normally I subscribe to the idea that source is more important, but if you subscribe to the idea that speakers are more important (no more right than my POV, no one has stereos 'figured out') then speaker+amp+room loading is your next step.

then do source - cd or phono? that will dictate what source or preamp or linestage your need. active/passive, cd direct into amps? phono? how much gain (linestage and or phono) will you need? is the output from your digital source poorly designed? do you need a buffer? tubes to sweeten it up, etc? There are many schools of thought and they all have their advantages and drawbacks. But it's all about building a single synergetic system in the end. It just varies on how one approaches and attacks the problem. No right or wrong answers. Well, err, those you suggest $300 dvd sources for $22k speakers should be shot on sight. But everything else is OK. :-)

It depends what you are trying to accomplish. There have been many good comments made so far.

Everything in the system is important, but IMO speakers are the least important. All they do is reproduce what comes to them. They do not create signal! They will not add back into the music what was lost coming down the line.

The most important thing in a system is the room. Nothing will sound good in a bad room. It doesn't matter how good the system is if the room keeps it from being able to reproduce music. Make sure the room is good.

Second most important thing is the source. CD, SACD, Vinyl, cassette, 8-track or tuner. If the equipment with which you procure the music doesn't get it off of the source it is lost throughout the chain. Get the best CDP, or Cartridge you can justify and get the most from the source!!!

Third, follow the signal to the speakers. Cartridge - arm - TT - cable - phono stage - cable - pre-amp - cable - amp - speaker cable - speakers.

Every piece will effect the signal. Buy pieces that cause the least detrimental effect on the signal. Make sure as much of the signal taken from the source arrives at the speakers as possible. If a poor signal arrives at the speakers they will reproduce junk, if a good signal arrives they will sound good.

Speakers are important, but they are the least important thing in the room. Get good speakers, but make sure the equipment upstream is worthy of them.

1 Speakers 2 Room 3 Source 4 Pre/Amp 5 Dedicated Lines 6 Cables JM(temporary)HO!

I myself started off purchasing the speakers first because I new what I wanted, to build my system around them. I already had a pretty nice amp and knew I could live with it and get a new one later, besides I believe that an amp could only change sound so much. The next thing I bought were some nice Cardas Cables and noticed a slight improvement but not enough to consider it a dramatic improvement but it was favorable. I should note that I have B&W 804N Speakers which are known for little bass but I wasn’t worried because I have a pretty good subwoofer. The next thing I wanted to get was a pre amp. After reading a lot of articles and had somewhat of an understanding what type of sound I was looking for, I purchased a Pre Amp, a tube pre amp, a Cary SLP94L. This component changed my system more than I could ever have imagined. So much that I don’t even need my subwoofer any more, the bass is perfect. Its exactly what I was looking for and is so quick. I never new what quick bass was until I heard this preamp. It really gave me understanding of what was being discussed in these articles in magazines and in Audiogon. The highs are midranges are superb as well. I can only imagine what a new amp will do but I don’t know if I need to improve on what I already have. If I do I can’t wait to find one that I want.

source is paramount you can not improve anything downstream
without addressing the source first. then the speakers next.