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What is the most important component to consider while building a new system?

I recently viewed a You Tube video featuring Paul McGowan from PS Audio discussing the most important component when building a new system. I love Paul's video's and feel they bring a personalized touch to the discussions of all things audio. In the video mentioned Paul took a generalized approach in stating the speakers were the most important component to consider and that the relevant importance of each successive component rested in the chain down stream of the speakers. I am writing this to humbly disagree. I am in the mist of building a new system from scratch over the past 9 months. It has been my experience that if proper care is taken to the quality of the amp. pre-amp. and cables (with an emphasis on cables) you can get away with relatively inexpensive speakers that sound better than they have a right to. This is my own opinion based on recent experiences.
scottya118
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Room and speaker

As far as the electronics,
Ivor Tiefenbrun (Linn Sondek) had it right with his famous saying.
"It all starts with the source", get that right and the battle is almost finished, get it wrong and nothing you do after it can fix it.   

Cheers George
missioncoonery
1,192 posts
 
2:08am"I give up. You guys are right. The Tekton Moab is the single most important component"......Stop schilling Tekton, no idea why the site doesnt ban your postings
audition__audio
1,309 posts
 
Avoid DSP at all costs. Good devices will cost you a decent amount and the poor ones are a disaster. Regardless of how much you spend you will hear them and it will get worse as your system improves. 

At least MC didnt mention S.R. and Raven. I dont believe in censorship but enough already! I urge them (the Gon) to put an end to this nonsense.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,652 posts
 
scottya118
... if proper care is taken to the quality of the amp. pre-amp. and cables (with an emphasis on cables) you can get away with relatively inexpensive speakers ...
Are you actually saying that cables have a greater impact on a system's sound than speakers, provided the cables are given the proper "emphasis?" If that's truly your opinion "based on recent experiences," I encourage you to get more experience. Listen to some better speakers.
johnto
975 posts
 
I would think having a great amp with enough clean power would be #1 then quality speakers. If your amp doesn't have enough power or isn't good it doesn't matter what speakers you have.
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