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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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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.

 
128x128
inna OP
7,296 posts
 

This source/speakers match is a very interesting and complicated subject by itself.

Matching doesn't mean efforts to literally directly compensate, it usually requires a lot of thought and experimentation. It is easy to completely screw up the sound, to throw it in disarray. But I would guess that, generally speaking, your choice of table/arm/cartridge/phono stage should not be too different than your choice of speakers. The idea is to make the speakers sound their best, not to make the speakers sound the way they don't really want to sound.

So, in the end the source might be more important but you choose speakers first and upgrade them last. At least, that's how I see it.

I bought my modest speakers 25 years ago but the sound that I have now is light years away from what it was. Everything else was upgraded.

immatthewj
1,898 posts
 

Good source will sound better on mediocre speakers than mediocre source will sound on good speakers. 

I think that there may be something to this.  

I would have defined "source" as ALL the electronics in front of the speakers, but I am thinking for the purposes of this discussion, that "source" refers to the first front end component in the system? 

grislybutter
2,989 posts
 

Good source will sound better on mediocre speakers than mediocre source 

I consider my CD player and TT mediocre and they sound great with good speakers and bad with OK speakers. So I guess it depends on the definition of mediocre. To translate this to numbers:

$200 CD player - $1000 speaker or 

$800 CD player - $400 speaker?

(as speakers budget shouldn't be 1:1)

Note, I didn't forget one "0" from each number - that's what I meant 😊

 

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