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A stupid question for which there's no sensible answer.

I know, I know. At least I've labeled it properly.

Here goes: of the following elements of a system, how would you rank their influence on the sound? In other words, generally, which would someone want to upgrade or prioritize, and in what order,  if all of the following pieces were inferior to an amp/preamp and speakers they were happy with? Power cables, connector cables. speaker cables. streaming source, music source, dac (I vote for this one as #1), room treatment, speaker placement, type of chair, earwax quotient, what you ate for lunch, etc.

I hereby give my permission for everyone to tell me this is an idiotic question since the real answer is: it depends. (But I did put a "generally" in there somewhere). Anyway, I prefer that we debate this based on what we've experienced when we've tinkered. So I guess I'm really interested in anecdotes.

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mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,961 posts
 
«Selling the absolute dont help the relatives but it can create a relation» -Groucho Marx
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,093 posts
 
Getting setup of whatever you have right overall based on room acoustics is always the first order.  Only then can you properly  decide what upgrades to attempt or if even needed.
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,961 posts
 
Getting setup of whatever you have right overall based on room acoustics is always the first order. Only then can you properly decide what upgrades to attempt or if even needed.
This is my point also but most people forget the 2 others embeddings controls of an audio system:

Vibrations and resonance controls,
Electrical grid of the  house and room controls,

These 2 together act differently on the sound quality perception  but together their negative impact is almost equal to the negative impact of the bad or lack of acoustical settings in a room...

This is why i called all that embeddings controls not only acoustical controls...

But yes acoustic is the most evident and powerful .....But the other 2 almost rival it in destructive power...

I know that by personal experience and experiments...
mwasilow
47 posts
 
Room Treatment is number #1. No if's and's or Buts.....
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,961 posts
 
Room Treatment is number #1. No if’s and’s or Buts.....
Everybody think that, myself included, but almost no one speak about number 2 and number 3 and together, i said they are ALMOST as important...

Then there is no "if" but there is a "but".....

The word "almost" is well defined in any dictionary...


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