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The most important link in the chain...

Hello everyone!
Over the years, I've read numerous different opinions on what is the most important link in a system chain. Somehow, in most audio reviews, you will come up with a statement about the importance of the category of the component being reviewed. "If the source is poor in performance, nothing can be done to improve the sound", "Preamp is were everything goes in and leaves from. If preamp is incapable of letting the information flow, result shall be poor", "Power amp sends the signal to the speakers. If power amp is incompetent, so shall be the signal and, hence, the music", "No matter how good your system is, if speakers are bad, everything else is in vain" etc etc. You can see similar statements concerning interconnects, speaker cacles, power cables, filters, power etc. I've read an interview of a 70 year old audiophile with a system costing $200,000 saying that power is 50% and equipment rack is 30% of the overall performance of the system! I think you see were it is getting to...
In your opinion, which is the most important link in the chain and why would that be? If thread proves popular, we might be able to create some charts; see how the audiogoners feel and think about that issue.
Thank you all!
myronk
jax2
3,031 posts
 
I agree with Arthur on the overall picture; one bad link ruins the entire chain. In this case one bad link can wreak havoc with your music. As far as the priority of investment, if you search the archives that thread is already here...more than once as I recall. My take: Source first. Speakers are certainly important and really need to be considered hand-in-hand with amplification for synergy. Room would be right up there as well. Which brings me back to Arthur's original premise...it's all important. Balance and synergy should be a guiding principal in any choices you make.

Marco
stevecham
3,340 posts
 
It is a system, with interactivity throughout. Such systems need to be implemented with the goal of optimizing the entire sonic picture. I agree with the above and in particular Jax2's statement that balance and synergy should be the guiding principles when it comes to selection of components that comprise the system.
bikerduud
75 posts
 
IMO, I would say that the room that you place the system in is the most important link in the chain. No matter how much money you invest on equipment, if you do not have a decent room, then you will not realize the potential of your hifi. On many occasions, I have noticed pictures from the "Virtual Systems" section that have horrible rooms with absolutely awesome equipment in it. Not that it takes rocket science to figure out, but so many audiophiles seem to live in cramped apartment spaces that were never meant to be sound rooms. If I were to spend more than $100,000 on a sound system, I would definitely make sure that the room would work well before investing in the equipment. Every once in a while, you might find a room that is perfect, but more often than not, you will have to spend money on tweaking the room to get rid of any acoustic aberrations. Conversely, if you are lucky enough to have a great room, you will have no problems finding excellent performance with even modestly priced equipment.
pmotz
412 posts
 
The most important link is the room! Component differences are small compared to what a bad room can do to spoil the sound.
czbbcl's avatar
czbbcl
1,752 posts
 
Every link in the chain is important as is system synergy. Because as the saying goes anything is only as good as its weakest link.
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