Help: Order of importance: Pre, Amp, DAC, speakers

Tcatman, I agree with you 100%....

One's speakers and the acoustic properties of one's room and set up are by far the most influential elements in the sound one hears.

The difference between a $1000 pair of speakers and a $10,000 pair of speakers will in most cases be staggering, but the difference between a $1,000 amp/preamp/cd player and a $10,000 amp/pre/cdp will often be quite subtle.

Even the best speakers produce relatively large amounts of distortion and have frequency response deviations of +/- 3db. Most electonics produce <1% distortion and have a frequency response within +/- .1db from 20hz-20khz.

No matter how linear and distortion free one's speakers and electronics are, once the room comes into play everything goes out the window. No transport will fix a -15db null at 50hz.

The difference between a $1000 pair of speakers and a $10,000 pair of speakers will in most cases be staggering, but the difference between a $1,000 amp-preamp-cd player and a $10,000 amp-pre-cdp will often be quite subtle.

This is a partly true statement. At the entry level where speakers at or below $1000 are a possibility, the speakers are tremendously important. Speakers at this level are very limited and tend to have lots of colorations. But with higher end systems where the speakers are never going to be less than $3-4K, there are many very capable loudspeakers, all of which can do a very good job. Here the electronics become much more important. I would also disagree that the differences between a $1000 amp/preamp/cd and $10,000 ones are subtle.

but Linn touted this *particularly* at the time they were only selling source components in the audio market.

Actually, Ivor is still saying the very same thing, as he just did in the recent magazine interview/debate with David Wilson (Stereophile, I think).

I would have to agree with Rives. The *room* is the most important. I recently moved to a new house and was startled at how different all my gear sounded. But I knew it was going to sound different anyway.

First, make sure your room is acoustically right. Then choose the speakers for your room. Then choose an amp to run the speakers. Then a preamp for your amp, and finally the source.

For quick demonstration of the importance of room acoustics, take your current speakers into your bedroom. Or push them flat against the wall. It will sound massively different. Now, swap your CD player for another make. The difference will be more subtle.