Elizabeth you are so bang on.people dont realize how critical the source is.one should spend the same $ on the source as they spend on a speakers.I sold my Anthem CD-1 and used the Money to buy a Turntable,I love my analog front end.I replaced the cd player with a mid fi Nak unit.My wife who listens to CD is not as keen to listing to the cd player as she used to be.I get tired in a matter of minutes.I will be getting a hi end player soon.Smooth the sibilants with a good digital front end.
smoothing those sibilants...
I appreciate the feedback on the interconnect post I made a few days ago, and here is my next question: If I am attempting to smooth out the sound of a "low-end-of-the-high-end" system, reducing grain while retaining detail (and looking for a warmer more "classic tube sound"), where is my energy/$$$ best spent? Would it be the digital source itself, the interconnects, the input tubes, the speaker cables, or the speakers? Or something else? (System info can be seen under the post entitled "need interconnect advice", and there are some new interconnects on the way.)