Speakers The single most critical component


I know we've been over this Q hundreds of X's over the past 20 years here on audion, You can find dozen of topics dealing with this Q <which is the ,,,,most important component...>>
well time for yet 1 more topic dealing with this,, perhaps unanswered, un-resolved issue.
I'm bringing up the old hachet due to my recent experience acutally hearinga FR in my system. 
Let me tell you, there is not even 1 traditional/conventioanl/xover design <The Boxed Type>> in the world that could convince me  , there is something that will beat out FR (caveat, FR requires  some sort of high sens =sensitivity, tweeter)  in  the Boxy world of speakers.
That is to say, FR + Compression Horn is the future of 21st Century high fidelity. 
One lab has already brought us these ~~~SHF~~~ aka SuperHighFidelity  single drivers. 
The code word here is ~~SHF~~~ which can not never be employed when describing xover/trad/conventioanl style  aka The Box designs. db level under 91 are _<<IN-EFFICIENT>> , = dysfunctional, out dated, old school , = Dinasaurs. 
For amps, I only consider tube amps (PP and SET) as ~~SHF~~~ I can not include ss amps in this topic. 
IMHO all well made tube amps sound very close,
 a  kt88 in brand X will sound  close to brand Y. 
So amplification takes a  distant 2nd place in critical component.  No need to break the bank buying amp A vs  a  lower priced kt88 amp B
CD players, nearly all  tube DAC's , tube cdp-ers sound  close. No need to braek the bank over X vs Y.
My Jadis DAC is  only miniscule gain over the Shanling,
 the Shanling
only a  miniscule gain over the Cayin CD17. 
Now as for  best source  , phonograph is the ideal playback medium vs cds. 
I have some LP's now , but my main collection are classical cds, most not on LP version. Cables , I did note some gains employing silver/copper wiring throughout my entire system including inside the Defy.
Tweak worthy.
New Mundorf caps in all componets, tweak worthy. 
Yet the main central component remaisn the speakers.
Here is where  the entire audio resolution either rises to Nirvana or falls to <<distortion/muddy waters,/pollution/anti-fidelity  voicing  issues.
Your system's fidelity is ultimately dependent on what speaker  you have chosen to employ.
Forget all you've learned over the years, 
The new mantra is <,The speaker is key component>
All else is just extra tweaks/nuances. 
To sum up, a  ~~SHF~~ driver will match even the top of line Wilson weighing in at hundreds of lbs priced $$$$$$$ overa single FR driver. 
FR beats out any/all xover box design speakers. Mostly due to that key specification ~~db level~~~ which is everything in speaker design and thus in resolution/fidelity. 

mozartfan
I do think however that the device turning the AC current into audible bliss is the foundation
what about the device turning music into AC current in the first place?
I do think however that the device turning the AC current into audible bliss is the foundation upon which the rest of the system relies, and the qualities it voices.

Affirming a common sense fact does not erase another common sense fact...Ordering the 2 facts ask only for some logical reasoning...


It is relatively easy to find relatively good speakers...( relatively to your purse but this does not invalidate my point at all).

Then without negating the impact of the choice of speakers, my point was to indicate a deep underestimated fact: psychoacoustic phenomena...

Like you just said it is important to adapt the room to the speakers... If not, the speakers will never give their optimal S.Q.

(Anyway at the speed of sound the waves crossed my room many times before my brain analyse all this, i listen in a small room to the multiples reflected frontwaves even in near listening...)

Give me any good speakers i could make it sound great....i know howto do it now at no cost...

Take any good speaker put it in a bad room... listen...This will seems "good" only because people will have no idea at all the way they would have sound in a good room...

Then it is easy to buy relatively good speakers but the most important piece of the job is acoustic...

The only reason people dont understand that is simple.... They never lived through it.... I did...Like i said passive material treatment is only half of the job, we need also unbeknownst to most active mechanical room controls...Especially if our speakers are not very costly one in more costly acoustic room.... active acoustic controls may cost peanuts it is the good news ...It cost me peanuts...

There is no comparison at all between a pair of speaker in a good room compared to the same pair in a bad room....Even the increase in S.Q. by an upgrade will not do the job most of the times save if you go over the roof in price perhaps...Most people think that imaging, timbre perception, soundstage are ONLY attributes of the gear, but they are only partially right, most of these factors depend heavily on room controls not only on passive materials treatment...

A simple example...Why most very rich audiophiles invest more in the room sometimes than in the gear, mike lavigne for example ? do they think that their speakers are so great they can put them in an ordinary room?


By the way i installed springs under and over my speakers with my own method... This give a big difference in S.Q. But this difference is very small compared to the huge transformation of the room....It is the same thing for the decresing of the electrical noise floor...It is an audible difference when we decrese the noise floor but this does not compared to the room acoustic either.... For sure none  of these changes is replaceable by the others but the more impactful audibly is the room controls on ALL aspect of sound in a more than audible way....Transformative completely....

If i did not insist on that who will?

My deepest salutations to you my friend....

And appropriate respect for sure....


talk about resist changes, 
WOW,
I will not continue  down the xover design any longer,
40 years of xovers is quite enough for this audiophile.
You can have em. 
Take all you want the listings are loaded.