What do you choose first SOUND or MUSIC?

If you choose sound first, your priorities are backwards.

Equipment serves the music!!!
A good system can serve better if properly used.
Choose good performance first then try to show it with better equipments, but it can't make performance than it really is.
The opposite won't work.
Why don't you buy a Steinway piano and play for yourself, insteady you spend big $$ on Hi-Fi.
The answer is very clear!
The reason is that not everybody can give good performance on a real piano(100% Hi-Fi).
Having a good Hi-Fi without good music is like to have a Steinway and you can't play.
If you can play like Horowitz, Steinway will give you a custom made grand and beg you to play.

Almost everybody chooses music first!
Don't spend big bucks to check your hearing but enjoy the music.

Good liestening to everybody!

50% SOUND AND 50% MUSIC !!

Cool answers! I always choose the music first and even my analogue setup allowes me to "adjust" my tonearm to a different styles of music. Currently it's "positioned" to a Rock/Fusion with bright upper mids. Guess what? I lift it up a little higher from newtral position. On the other hand I had a little frustration that my rock collection became to sound dim with pretty musical units. I talked over specialists and they advised me to play with VTA which gives you wider possibilities to adjust your needs. Certainly, I do sacrifice for music and still continue to have fun.

marakanetz: give us a break. i think you're makin' this stuff up out of whole cloth and a smattering of audio myths derived from god knows what sources. provide us the details, if you can. in particular, explain this bit: ** I talked over specialists and they advised me to play with VTA which gives you wider possibilities to adjust your needs** does this mean you adjust the vta for each record? each genre? each mood? how do you keep track? is your arm metered? please give us a listing of your $100k system components

-kelly