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Whats more important? Speaker or the Amp

I am curious to hear what people have to say about the subject. Feel free to vent.
rkerv
gregm
3,412 posts
 
often the most powerful monoblocks are sitting on the floor where they are less likely to overdrive the speakers
Which, in turn, explains why some people have their giga amps in the basement: use gravity to restrict --in a natural way -- the energy flow into the room!
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,171 posts
 
An average source or amp will make any great speaker sound mediocre, at best.
What should be dynamic and involving, making it difficult to turn away, will simply tame the potential of the speaker, rendering it boring and uninvolving.
gregadd
574 posts
 
You are of course listening to the speaker it makes the sound. IMO the two most colored items in the audio chain is the cartridge and the speaker.
A good amp should only have a sound when it is misbeheaving(asked to do something it cannot). There is a reason they don't emphasize distrotion figures for speakers(or cartridges for that matter.
Speaker should be chosen first and then an amp should be purchased that is ideal for that load.
We are handicapped becasue even if a reviewer knew what amp should be used with a speaker he will not have it on hand at the time of review. A dealer is also limtied by his knowledge and availablity of the right amp. Often even the manufacturer does not reccomend the right amp for his speaker. I would never have bought the CLS if I heard it being dirven by the Krell elctronics.
One also needs to factor in speaker cables in that equation.
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