Where did you sink the most cash into?


I'm not interested in how much anyone  spent, but I'm curious what the single most costly item in your system is- ie, amplifier, CD player, etc.

I will go first- in my present set up, it's speakers. 

But I can't live without my ancient Zerostat (the red one) which was probably 1/3 if what they retail for now. My most enduring audio purchase!  
128x128zavato
Based on msrp, once my system is complete, this is the order in which I will have spend the most money. My expenditure on cables is still max 50% of the cost of the connected components, however the total expenditure on wire puts that at the top of the list.

In order -
- Cables (total for all cables)
- Pre/power amp 
- Speakers
- Front end (cdp)
- Isolation
- Conditioner
- Racks/tweaks

Speakers vs amps breakdown -
- Pre/power amps - 55%
- Speakers - 45%

I feel like i’m sticking to my guns and following my ’balanced system approach’. I believe that is the right approach to achieving the best sound.

Brain. It needs some time to discover which manufacturers have absolutely no idea about High End.
Stillpoints under everything, including an ess rack.

But the speakers would be the most expensive if I purchased them new.
The only surprise I have in the responses is that for a few, cabling has been the single biggest expense. 

In my system, I've probably put less but close to 10% for wire but my results are a bit skewed because I've built some of the power cords I use and I also built one of my IC's
Room by a large margin

TT (Table, arm, cartridge a tie)
Phono preamp (close second)
amps
speaker
cables
preamp linestage

This little exercise shows me how overpriced cables are even as crucial as they are to a system.   For me, once I got my source right it made fitting in the pieces downstream easier.