Priorities

Seems Ive read a lot of discussions that ask "which is more important, amps or preamps?" or "what will give me the most improvement, speakers or amps, or cables, etc?". From my perspective, there is a priority that should be followed to achieve the best sound. Some may disagree, but to me it's pretty logical that the order of importance is as follows:

1) Your ears. Get them checked, keep them clean, and consider a hearing aid if your hearing is compromised. If you cant hear well enough to appreciate the sound of your system, nothing can improve it.

2) Room acoustics. The best system will sound mediorcre if the room dimensions and or acoustics are not addressed. Deal with the obvious first then fine tune acoustics after your system is set up.

3) Speakers. Besides cost and aesthetics, speakers should be chosen that will work best for the type of music you intend to play and what the room dimensions will allow relative to your intended listening position. You cant stuff a pair of large Maggies in a small room that won't allow them to be properly placed nor should you expect a pair of smaller stand mounts to work in a large room with any authority. Some speakers work best with certain types of music but fall short with other types. If you have the wrong speakers for the room's size or musical preferences, it doesn't matter what components are feeding them. It'll always be a comprimise.

4) Amplification. Once you have correctly chosen your speakers, and only after having selected your speakers,  can you chose the amplification that will properly drive them. There are many issues to consider here (SS vs Tubes, impedance matching, cost, etc) which warrants a whole other discussion. The point is, you cant hope for optimum SQ without first addressing items 1,2, and 3.

5) Preamp. This assumes you need the phono stage or line stage gain a preamp provides in addition to the switching capability inherent in preamps. I say this because some source components have sufficient gain and controls to eliminate the need for a preamp. That said, a quality preamp can have a huge beneficial affect on SQ.

6) Source component. Whether CD player, streamer, turntable or other, this should be chosen based on preference as well as quality. Again, the best source components cannot reach their potential if the above items are not first addressed.

7) Source material. No amount of money spent can improve a poorly recorded source. Shop carefully.

8) Cables/racks/tweeks. These all may have an affect to a certain degree but if items 1-7 are chosen correctly, I wouldn't expect significant improvements. 

This is only my opinion of course and I realize some may take issue. I'm open to constructive comments if you disagree but, in the spirit of the holiday season, please keep it civil.

Merry Christmas to all,

J.Chip