Most important link: Source? Pre-amp?or?

The survey SAYS ... I'll put my money on the speakers if digital sourced, turntable if analog sourced. I once bought into the Scottish 'top down' theory (Linn that is), and was quite happy with an LP-12 running to a Linn preamp, NAD amp, and some speakers that I'm too embarassed to mention. Then I broke free of the Linn cult, and fell into the tube religion, which preaches careful choice of speaker mates. While going through many speakers, I noticed that a system's flavor can range the full gamut, more so than changing anything else. I currently believe that the speakers are the most compromised part of a system, even before your room mangles the sound further. But hey, give me a few months, and ask again .......

Not a fair question. In a well balanced system every component is equally important. Kinda', you'll never sound better than your worst component. Turn the question around to -- "What's the least important component? My vote costs to cables and interconnects. Many high end system builders allocate way to much for these items in their budgets. Be that as it may, the direct answer to YOUR question is the speaker/room interface.

Here is a highly opinionated belief by yours truly. All else equal, speakers are by far the most important component in your system. I would recommend putting 60+% of your overall budget into the speakers, get adequate amplification next, and then make compromises elsewhere (CD player?). I have found the differences between a $200 CD player and a $12,000 combo one very subtle. Try it with speakers and the difference will blow you out of your seat. Also, the speakers are the weakest link in reproducing accurate sound.