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A stupid question for which there's no sensible answer.

I know, I know. At least I've labeled it properly.

Here goes: of the following elements of a system, how would you rank their influence on the sound? In other words, generally, which would someone want to upgrade or prioritize, and in what order,  if all of the following pieces were inferior to an amp/preamp and speakers they were happy with? Power cables, connector cables. speaker cables. streaming source, music source, dac (I vote for this one as #1), room treatment, speaker placement, type of chair, earwax quotient, what you ate for lunch, etc.

I hereby give my permission for everyone to tell me this is an idiotic question since the real answer is: it depends. (But I did put a "generally" in there somewhere). Anyway, I prefer that we debate this based on what we've experienced when we've tinkered. So I guess I'm really interested in anecdotes.

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Showing 5 responses by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
When the room is bad going more near field is always an effective solution.

So are headphones. 🚬🥸

But truth is there is almost always a way to tackle most any room without having to go nuts on expensive treatments if you learn to assess the room properly and choose the right speakers to work well in it. Speakers with wide dispersion patterns typically help.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
At what point is a system/QS good enough? If tinkering is fun, I guess it doesn’t matter.

I suppose the answer is its all a personal thing. Whatever turns one on.

Tinkering is fun. That said, not all decisions are created equal. The key is to make well informed decisions not based merely on hearsay.

The good new is with the internet all the info needed is out there here and elsewhere. One just need to be able to synthesis it properly. Not always an easy task. Having a solid base of technical knowledge to build on is the key to actual results. Everyone should do their homework!



mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
Nice relevant article on “setup”:

https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiZGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LndoYXRoaWZpLmNvbS9hZHZpY2UvdGhpbmdzLXRoYXQtbWF...
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
Not necessarily room treatments.  Just getting the right speakers set up right in the room which depends on where you are listening from.  You might not need room treatments to get good sound of you do that right. Can they make things even better once you do?   Of course.  But room treatments is not task 1.  
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
Getting setup of whatever you have right overall based on room acoustics is always the first order.  Only then can you properly  decide what upgrades to attempt or if even needed.
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