Significance of different components of audio ...

I have found the preamp to be almost as critical as the speakers in voicing a system. That's about the only change in priority I'd advocate. I think Gs5556 has the right attitude about recording quality. Those that only listen to recordings based on their audiophile attributes miss the purpose of music and music reproduction.

Dear Audiogoners,

Thank you for your responses to my thread thus far. Amazingly enough, I would agree with all the responses posted to date. I think that I understand the reservations and differences in opinions which might be due to the fact that I did not clearly and precisely explained the subject of my thread. I will do so in the next day or two, also will add some missing items. The objective is not to obtain even a qualitative consensus on the issue (virtually impossible) but to alert newcomers and less experienced hi-fi enthusiasts on what matters the most, what less or very little in creating or upgrading a well balanced, synergistic and musically rewarding stereo system. We need to grow in numbers, voicing opinions, supporting quality in reproduced music, etc. otherwise we might all sink in the "good enough" misery of the convenient but mediocre gear designed for the masses. No question... the MUSIC above all, enjoy. Jerzy
P.S. I recall for this topic to be perennial on many forums, including Audiogon - can anybody help me in finding some of them? One day, I promise, I will post statistically-evaluated list on Audiogon - with some ridiculus or questionable claims (call them outliers) either removed or attached for a record only. However, for statistics to work well we need a large sample, so please contribute your opinions and share your experience generously. JJS

it's all a matter of opinion. i have experienced a major change when replacing a line cord or introducing a new tweek.

in general, i might agree with you, but empirically, unforseen things happen, meaning allegedly unimportant factors exert an affect in greater proportion to what is expected.

I quite disagree with the notion of saying that this and that component is more important than the other. In my opinion, and experience, the entire system is critical.

What is really important is matching, successfully voicing components together. In this aspect, stuff that you consider less important like cables, power conditioning, vibration isolation and such can be most critical. A cable can make or break any system much in the same way a pre-amp can, or why not room acoustics. The impact of these so-called minor things can really make a system shine, or it can strangle it completely.. :)

Thank you again to everyone who contributed to my thread. I must say that I agree to various extent with the majority of statements in it, or at least, I can relate to some of them or understand the point being made. Despite having both revelant engineering amd musical backgrounds and spending over 35 years in building a progressively better audio system myself, I do not consider myself a guru or even an expert. I just managed to built a system (audio components, room and relevant utilities) which delivers the music rather than just sounds.
My objectives in this thread were to receive a feedback to my concept of proportions and common sense in building the audio system. That is, to obtain, consider and explore other opinions, and fine-tune/improve on my approach as a result. More importantly, in our age of "good enough" and "quantity over quality", I hoped, together with other experienced and concerned participants, to provide (or restore) the proportions in what's important in a sensibly assembled modern audio systems. Many newcomers and young prospective audiophiles who had the curiosity (and courage) to lurk outside of the world of ipods and compressed formats, are getting discouraged, confused or just taken by the marketing hype, claims or statements which are out-of proportion, misleading or plainly false, consequently, leading where implemented to disappontment and feeling of being cheated.

If we, music lovers and audiophiles, could collectively help ourselves and do our best to grow in numbers, by bringing in a new generation of audiophiles, we may avoid situation that in a few years all high-resolution formats will disappear, and in a next few years, the only software available will be the one downlodable via PC in ever "improved" formats which compete with each other to devise a better algorithm to cheat the brain better by removing more than 90% of the musical information and still led someone to believe that he/she is still listening to the MUSIC.
Regards,
Jerzy