@almarg thanks, your first two points make eminent sense and I hadn't identified those strategies so clearly. The rest, yes, I'd reached similar conclusions.
Weakest link - a different question?
Google shows a fair number of posts to this forum where people ask "Here's my system, what is my weakest link?" As an engineer, to me the more important question is, given system X in room with acoustics Y, how do I tell what the weakest link is?" I'd love to know what methodology people use to determine what component or room treatment makes the most sense to upgrade next given the sheer complexity of interactions between room, amp, source, speakers, power, and cable?
Can any of you distill out from your experience what process you used when deciding which component from your system to upgrade? I'd love to hear your stories of _how_ you made the decision for your system.
(For the sake of background, I have an entry level British system: Rega Planar 3, Rega DAC-R, Rega Elex-R, Spendor A4s, Chord interconnects, QED speaker wire, and a Panamax power conditioner purely - because we live in rural PA where the power is dirty - but I am not asking about my system, it is the methodology that interests me).
Thanks!
Can any of you distill out from your experience what process you used when deciding which component from your system to upgrade? I'd love to hear your stories of _how_ you made the decision for your system.
(For the sake of background, I have an entry level British system: Rega Planar 3, Rega DAC-R, Rega Elex-R, Spendor A4s, Chord interconnects, QED speaker wire, and a Panamax power conditioner purely - because we live in rural PA where the power is dirty - but I am not asking about my system, it is the methodology that interests me).
Thanks!