Poll: Most impactful component

I've always thought this was not a fair question as a wonderfully fulfilling system is the sum of its parts so it usually boils down to that last piece that completed the fulfillment puzzle be it a cable, an amp, a speaker, etc. 

All the best,
Nonoise

Fuses.

It was the Preamp for me. I had a solid system and when I upgraded preamps it was staggering. I had spent about 10k on speakers and 10k on a turntable and truthfully only had midfi amplification so I had to choose. I flipped a coin and upgraded the preamp and was blown away. 

Oh I forgot room treatment.  I bought approx 100 Auralex tiles and 24 bass traps. Honestly this did more than any component.  Actually it did more than all of my components.  I know there is still some room correction to gain and I only spent about 1500 but it made a GIANT difference in my room

This is great thread!  My answer--I have no idea.  

How great is Roxy's metaphorical assessment of the system? 

Speakers = Body & Voice

Amplifier = Heart

Pre = Soul

I would add that Source = Blood 

For years I fought the notion that the preamp was super important.  Then I got a legitimate phono preamp (Manley Chinook--still own it despite lots of swapping around).  That made me realize that if a phono preamp could make that big of a difference, how about the preamp itself?   That was eye opening. 

Maybe I should be asking myself, What component is the one to skimp on, if you had to?