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Do you belong more to souce first or to speakers first school of thought ?

It is more complicated in reality of high end than either/or but still we have our preferences. This is a never ending debate, so let's never end it.

inna
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mswale
76 posts
 

Budget first

then build

Usually agree speakers are deciding factor on a lot. On my current system, I got KLH Model 5;s. They sounded great, plus also looked great with my vintage system. Good size, good sound, good looks, good price. Played with them for about a year, then got Klipsch Forte's. This changed everything. My systems was much brighter, bass much deeper. However, it sounded like crap! Going from 89db to 99db sensitivity showed me everything that was wrong.The Klipsch showed me that I had a ton of noise in my system, my preamp has a slight hiss on the right channel.

What did I do? Got all new cables, pulled all components, cleaned everything, put back with all signal on the right, all power on the left, added a power conditioner,  My amp is huge, also had to cut out the back of my cabinet to fit it. 

In my quest, the speaker first cost me a lot of unintended money, but now sounds wonderful. 

unsound
7,329 posts
 

+1 @jpwarren58 

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drmuso's avatar
drmuso
106 posts
 

A lot of thoughtful responses here.  With the possible exception of the tube amp diehards, most of us probably need to consider the speaker first, especially to fit the listening room.  Too big a speaker won't work in a small room.  If the room is very asymmetrical, it may work best to go with a panel speaker of some sort.  Even nearfield listening can't completely avoid the effects on bass response of a room that has one hard corner and one open space behind the speakers.

After the speakers are selected, one should match the amp(s) to the speakers.  There may be some speakers that won't work well with tube amps.

Then, one can select source components that mate well with the speakers.  So if the amp/speakers combination is on the analytical side, it may be better to chose a DAC and/or phono cartridge that is less so.  I certainly agree with the "garbage in, garbage out" notion (which I think came out of the computer/software world back in the 1980s), so one shouldn't skimp on the source components, but they need to be chosen to complement the amp/speaker system.

 
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