Cloudgif would be right if the component that made the biggest audible difference were the one that made the biggest difference in musical pleasure in the long run. But it isn't. The fact that you can hear big differences between speakers means they will give you different sounds, not more musicality and more of the music. That comes from the source. Small differences at one level of attention can make huge differences in satisfaction with the experience of listening to a piece of music. And it is just amazing how good even modestly priced, well made speakers can sound with a good source and amplification. One way to put it is that modest but quality speakers can present the subtlties that distinguish good sources, but expensive speakers cannot makew up for what poor sources lack.
By the way, if the fact that 2 pair of speakers sound different means that one or both is wrong, then all speakers are wrong, since they all sound different, and none of them sounds like live music. Right and wrong are not what is important: engaging, satisfying music presentation is what matters.
Cloudg if is of course right that you should get speakers that you love. I didn't suggest you shouldn't care about speakers, but that you should spend more money on source. And I also suspect it is more or less true that, in digital from ends, you reach a point of diminishing returns fairly quickly; the 4k CDP isn't going to sound that much better than the 2K one, if both are good. But he's wrong that the $500 player will not be distinguishable from a good, more expensve one. I auditioned (long ago, now) a Rega planet ($850 at the time) against a Naim CD3 ($2k then) and while I bought the Rega -- which sounded way less jittery and glaring than all the Sonys, Rotels, Cambridge Audios, and Arcams I had heard -- the Naim was vastly better, albeit in subtle ways. Better in tune, better rhythm and timing, more resolution without being harsh. $$ made me buy the Rega, and while it's really nice and all, i wish i had spent the extra. My real cheap ($550 or so TT set up is so much better sounding that I just don't listen to my CDs very much, which is a shame. Of course, If I had spent less on the speakers, which came to about $2k, and which are wonderful, but too revealing for my sources, I could have gotten the NAIM, and i believe I would have been better off.
Of course, its even harder to hear differences in amplifiers than in source (except for how loud they go); but certainly there is a difference in musicality between a good $500 and a good $1500 amplifier.
RNM
