There is no most important component. They call it a stereo “system” for a reason. My own approach is to figure out what the weak link is and address that next. It’s a never-ending project and the improvements get smaller and smaller but my ability to hear them gets better and better.
That said,I can remember getting three big jumps in SQ over the past 20 years, that you might cogitate over before chasing boxes.
1. A hospital grade wall outlet. A genuine WTF moment. No PC ever made as much difference as the outlet itself did.
2. Antivibration under the pre-amp. Iin my system it has mattered there more than anywhere else.
3. Perfect Path contact enhancer applied as the maker recommends it. An astonishing product, but you’ll never find it again. The maker died this winter and apparently the formula passed on with him. The entire community should be sad about that one. It turned out I purchased one of his very last tubes.
but that is with my system. For someone else it might be something else. Tthere is no magic amp or pre or speaker out there that will transform a system.
I could add a fourth — a well produced recording. The better your system is,the more you are at the mercy of the production quality of whatever you’re listening to.
