The most important link in the chain...

Well, without denegrating the 'weak link' comments, somehow we have to get by this old chicken v egg conversation.

Everybody has to start somewhere and no one that I know has ever bought a well researched high end system all at one time. Most every body buys a piece and tweeks, buys a piece and tweeks, ad infinitum (or so it seems).

The speaker/room/amp (in that order) interface is essential and 2d only to your sonic/tonal preferences (frequency response). In fact this will contribute more to getting you to your goal than the obverse IMHO.

If your speakers don't have the natural ability to resolve detail with out emphasis, for example, why would you need the 'most resolving' pre-amp, analog or digital front end. You'd never hear what they really have to offer and you would never have the ability to compliment your speakers/set up by you choice of sources, pre-amp, and to a much lesser degree your amp.

Not everybody is going to 'shoot the moon' (including myself) and just requires balance in their system. Its much easier to find electronics to match speakers than it is to find speakers to match the room and your 'ears'. At least that has been my experience.

FWIW I've gone from a fairly high end set of electronics, sources, pre-amp, amps (for 1985) and good speakers which didn't really quite 'work' for me, to some fine (IMHO) speakers and fairly pedestrian electronics which have, finally, taken me to the threshold of meeting my expectations. I might experiment with more refined electronics but I sure as hell don't need to!

My 2 cents worth.........

"Transducers" are always the weak link in any system. For audio this means the speaker and the phono pickup, which convert between electric signal and mechanical motion. These are so inaccurate, evem for the best equipment, that all other elements of the system are small contributors.

Of course there is another transducer in the game... the microphone used to make the recording. The differences between different microphones are dramatic, as various test recordings will show.

And, for vinyl, the cutting head. So vinyl has twice as many transducers as digital. Draw your own conclusion.
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FWIW, my 2 cents as follows-
1. Must have no gross mis-matches- no horn speakers with v. bright, high power ss amp; no low impedence dynamic speaker with low power OTL amp, etc, bad cart/arm compliance match.
2. Very high quality electronics with competent, limited LF speakers that get mid range right are better than full range, high resolution speaker with average electronics.
3. Changes in the transducers (those that convert mechanical or optical information into electrical signals and electrical signals into air pressure waves) will yield significant changes in overall system sound (for better or worse).
4. Very high resolution speakers will starkly illuminate defects upstream. So I would not go this way until I had all of my electronics and source issues in order.

I agree with those who say the room.

The two biggest factors (by very very far) are Room and Speakers.

Digital Sound and transistor electronics have made the differences between other components to be several orders of magnitude less important. (There is so much out there that is simply excellent - even modest cheap stuff)

This is why I am not ashamed to hook up a $300 CD player to literally "hundreds of times" more investment in speakers and room design/treatment. What would seem crazy to many people makes perfect sense to me in terms of "sound" value.

I agree that all links are pretty much equally important, one more link, as Myronk eluded to, the power feeding your system is as critical as the others. And then we can add those damnable cables, IC, speaker and power. It goes on and on and on.