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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The poster said he was good with the amp/preamp and speakers. Still about half the responses referred to these in some form or fashion, jeeeeezzzz. Read the post and respond accordingly. Answer is source. Clearthinker noted the garbage in garbage out analogy. A more succinct statement does not exist. Not necessarily the TT in all cases but the answer is the source you're using. BTW, all of the do-hickeys and thing-a-ma-bobs down the line all together have a <10% effect on  results (this does not include room acoustics as well as set up and placement). As for all the salespersons touting their amps and speakers, always remember "One mans floor is another mans ceiling". AB
The reason room and speakers and EQ.  are mentioned is because that's about 90% if he does nothing with those it's a waste of time and money. 
@clearthinker - the OP asked...
how would you rank their influence on the sound?
So my question to you is - how would I know just how good a TT is IF the cables were less than excellent???

He did not ask which component or cable was the most important. If that were the case my response would have been very different

Personally I would put speakers before source, because without great speakers you are not getting the benefit of a good source

My cables have influenced the sound of my system much more than any component purchase.

Regards - Steve

Mapman: thanks for the link. There was some stuff in there I hadn't run into before.
For some reason, reading it raised an issue for me. At what point is a system/QS good enough? If tinkering is fun, I guess it doesn't matter.

But are we all hamster-wheeling Buddha's wheel of desire--continual striving based on a sense of deficit with the way things are? Can I fully enjoy listening to music if I feel I have an imperfect system? And when have I literally superceded my ears/brain ability to process? 
Reading my post, I can see that I'm a master of posing unanswerable/possibly pointless questions. Nonetheless, if anyone has pondered any of this, I'd be curious to hear his thoughts (are there women on the forum? There must be.).