The most important component of a system is...

Speaker.

With-out a doubt the loudspeakers are first. Of course you need an amplifier that is happy with those speakers.
If cables are second last, just what is last?

Is this about what one feels is the most important component or a bitch-post about speaker manufacturers? You got me....sorry!

Johnny Vinyl said:

Is this about what one feels is the most important component or a bitch-post about speaker manufacturers? You got me....sorry!

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room, speaker.. everything else. really you should look at your room as a component . in messed up way its the source of you sound.

and you are not wrong, speaker manufacturers are like restaurant owners every tom dick and harry think they can do it... no licence needed.

These 3 are the most important first and foremost. Everything else can only be evaluated properly after that:

1. Clean Power
2. Vibration isolation
3. Room diagnosis and organic acoustic treatment (no DSP, unless there are very nagging peaks/trough remaining after organic acoustic treatment).

Great topic, ack. I got a hint of your thinking when you recently sent me an email explaining the work you have done recently modifying your Martin Logans and now that that is complete, that you just listen to and enjoy your music.

For me, the most important thing is the listener/room/speaker setup or placement: the relationship of those to one's room. I learned this from Jim Smith. I understand that these together are not a component per se, so perhaps it is not answering the question in the OP directly, but nevertheless, this has been my own experience and it is what truly distinguishes the successful systems that I have heard from the merely good hifi systems.

Equipment today is pretty good, and at many different price points. With proper set up in one's room, many systems can sound surprisingly good, and some, quite extraordinary. Great gear, improperly set up, can sound good, but is never convincing or special sounding.

I agree that speakers are perhaps the most critical component, in part because they vary so much depending on typology and the specific skill level of their designer. One must like the sound of the speaker he selects and it must be appropriate for one's room. Then they have to be properly driven by the amplifiers.

Having written that, I have been astonished by how much difference a source component can make. Just look at the endless analog/digital debates or how much people write about the improvement from a specific cartridge, arm, DAC etc. The interface with the medium is where the information is picked up. If it is not taken out of the grooves or translated from the digital file, it will never come through the rest of the system to be heard in the room. So if one prioritizes resolution or information retrieval, then the source takes on a higher priority.

I prioritize Dynamics, Tone, and Presence (again Jim Smith) equally, followed by resolution. These are dependent on proper set up. Everything else is less important for music enjoyment, IMO. My ranking is as follows:

1. System set up and interaction with the room

big gap, then the rest are close to each other:

2. Speakers
3. Source
4. Electronics
5. Vibration control and power delivery.

Considering that importance means "likely to have a profound effect on success, survival, or well-being" I would say all of them.

Taking out the few defective, poorly designed or designs whose characteristics do not attract my preferences - and I can find them in all categories - I would be able to build a system I would enjoy starting with any category. My point is that matching the proper components is more important than each of them.

And I am more optimist than ack, the original poster - I consider that most modern speakers depend excessively on system and room matching, but not they are flawed designs. Or perhaps I have much less experience than him, our local speaker market is much more limited that the US one.

Speaker

Here's my 2cents....

Room first. THE most important component...BY FAR!!
Second...The source. Lose information here and you can not make it up later.
Third...Preamp....or phono stage.

The speaker is important, BUT I believe the speaker has to be fitted to the room. Too big a speaker in the room...and we all know the result ( well most of us do, LOL... )

Room
Speaker
Source

The first two are intertwined by size and dimensions as others have mentioned. The first includes ambient environment and supplied power and grounding. The third implies not mucking up the works with additional noise.

Room, but that's not what this post is about.

Speaker then cartridge.

Like many others I see the room as the greatest determinant as it sets up the kind of speaker that will work best.

Alternatively it might be useful to think of the room as an extension of the speaker.

Either way the room/speaker relationship seems the primary factor in our system.

Then speaker choice determines the amplification.

Source is such a completely individual choice and maybe says more about the individual characteristic of the system and the listener.

Cables, power and mechanical isolation/resonance control set variable limits in system performance and can be make or break factors in final outcome.

Also beyond the holistic virtues of a natural sound that conveys musicality the specific goals along the lines of Peter A's comments of dynamics, tonality and presence are fundamental.

The degree of resolution becomes a variable that also can be a bit of a double edged sword though once you've had resolution it is hard to go back from that.

PeterA said:

Great topic, ack. ..... My ranking is as follows:

1. System set up and interaction with the room

big gap, then the rest are close to each other:

2. Speakers
3. Source
4. Electronics
5. Vibration control and power delivery.

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+ 1. But it all matters.

the whole is greater than the sum of its parts....

I would like to write that the speaker is the most important component. But if I were to write this bonzo would be reminding me that if the source is digital I cannot relax and enjoy myself.

So for me, idiosyncratically, the source must be the most important component.

Ron Resnick said:

I would like to write that the speaker is the most important component. But if I were to write this bonzo would be reminding me that if the source is digital I cannot relax and enjoy myself.

So for me, idiosyncratically, the source must be the most important component.

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paradoxically; it turns out that a digital source is the best tool for room and system development. digital reveals changes much more easily since it's less friendly to our ears. so we are much more sensitive to changes since our emotions are not as engaged. vinyl and tape media masks faults easily as we tend to get caught up in the event as opposed to the sound.

digital vocals tell all. I have 20-30 main ones (some guilty pleasures), and many more too that I can cycle through from my server very quickly to judge changes. room tuning or gear changes that cause digital vocals to be more listenable and real make perception of positive changes easier.

my 2 cents is to have some sort of trustworthy digital source you can get comfortable with. I hear ya on vinyl being better and more important as your main thing......but testing room changes and even set-up can require many dozens of repeats and so having a digital reference is important. room tuning requires good tools.

sorry if this is off-topic but your post triggered this train of thought........

Power conditioner comes first for me. It defines whether or not I'll listen much. But recently I've become somewhat of an amp snob...

These are challenging to answer because I can live with numerous good speakers, but I've heard plenty that are intolerable. I just know that the speaker isn't what defines my actual listening habits as long as it's decent.

room by far.. it HAS to be considered a component
speakers
the rest...