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Which area of components to spend the most $ on? Boy I was wrong all my life!

I have been an audio junkie for about 25 years. All those years, I have read plenty of discussion posts and recommendations where to spend the most money on. The majority, even the experts recommend to spend the most money on speakers. Up to as high as 60% of the total budget.Example: CEO of PS Audio-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYwL7vPkPhg
I believed this all my life. Today, my eyes are opened. My total budget is about $15K.Before today, my system was:Speakers-Revel F36 Concerta 2 (For the money, this is the best speakers I’ve heard. I like it more than my previous Dynaudio Contour 30)Integrated Amp-Marantz PM-10 (Class D, balanced, 400wpc at 4ohms)CD Player-Oppo UDP 205 & Marantz CD 6005 (Some of the best in class)Line conditioner-Furman Elite PFi 15Cables-Kimber 8TC Speaker Cables (Sorry, not a cable nut. I’d rather spend money elsewhere)
I upgraded my front end CD player to... Marantz SA-11S3. I was BLOWN away! This is the greatest upgrade I have ever heard in my life. For 25 years, I was taught to spend the most in speakers. Sorry! It’s the FRONT END! The best source you can afford. The purity transcends down the river. I am blown away by the sheer improvement in detail, clarity, depth, the air around the instruments.
My philosophy has changed.
skimrn
passet02's avatar
passet02
262 posts
 
Your power ,interconnect,and speaker cables most important
flippinjaz
12 posts
 
Garbage in...garbage out. That's been my experience.
desktopguy
330 posts
 
Interesting thread. In my experience, you can always make improvements on the front end of the system--the line or phono level sources, and yes, even interconnects sometimes--and hear those improvements pretty clearly on whatever speakers you have. But the reverse is not always true.

Once the low level signal stuff is tight, anything you improve on the speaker/high-level signal end may well result in dramatic, easily heard improvements.

And regarding digital, I've been unhappy in various ways w/digital since the '80s, and only recently really got happier with it, thanks to multibit digital DACs, specifically NOS (non-oversampling) multibit. This has been a real game-changer, to the point that I no longer even think about my digital source (just enjoy it).
kqvkq9's avatar
kqvkq9
120 posts
 
Well now I've always found a good bottle of single malt will improve things for much less than the prices under discussion.
roncagg
61 posts
 
+1  - or a nice double IPA, I’ve written as much over at audioshark.org, the best tweak you can make!
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