ITball,
You are right on for the most part. Speakers, and their interaction with the acoustic environment (room) accounts for 95% of the sound you hear, good or bad, assuming that the rest of the components are at least mid-level quality.
Tubes vs. Tranistors is another thing that you will hear, though this might require a bit of practice and a revealing system. A 40W push-pull EL34 amp like a Jolida will sound pretty different than a Class A Krell or something. With a well setup system, this is something that everyone should be able to hear. Not to say that all tube amps/transistor amps sound different, but some topologies (like the above) will.
Tied with that, changes in source are pretty audible, especially with analog. Listen to a Rega table with a cheap cartridge, and then a big VPI table with an expensive cartridge. You will hear some major differences here.
Digital sources are mixed bag, and changes are often quite a bit more subtle. Like one of the above posters said, a higher-end digital source can be the difference between being able to easily follow a bassline, or having it kind of getting lost in the mix. It won't be a major "this whole stereo sounds like crap" thing with a cheaper digital player, unless the CDP is really bad. (1989 Circuit City Sony or something)
Like you, I don't hear notable differences between cables, tubes, most tweaks, and SS amps.
You are right on for the most part. Speakers, and their interaction with the acoustic environment (room) accounts for 95% of the sound you hear, good or bad, assuming that the rest of the components are at least mid-level quality.
Tubes vs. Tranistors is another thing that you will hear, though this might require a bit of practice and a revealing system. A 40W push-pull EL34 amp like a Jolida will sound pretty different than a Class A Krell or something. With a well setup system, this is something that everyone should be able to hear. Not to say that all tube amps/transistor amps sound different, but some topologies (like the above) will.
Tied with that, changes in source are pretty audible, especially with analog. Listen to a Rega table with a cheap cartridge, and then a big VPI table with an expensive cartridge. You will hear some major differences here.
Digital sources are mixed bag, and changes are often quite a bit more subtle. Like one of the above posters said, a higher-end digital source can be the difference between being able to easily follow a bassline, or having it kind of getting lost in the mix. It won't be a major "this whole stereo sounds like crap" thing with a cheaper digital player, unless the CDP is really bad. (1989 Circuit City Sony or something)
Like you, I don't hear notable differences between cables, tubes, most tweaks, and SS amps.