What is the most important?

[Thaiman]

What is the most important item in your hifi system and why? ie amp, cdp, cables etc...etc. (pls note: this is a question in general, not for my upgrade purpose)

 

[Anonymous]

each component is as important as the one on top of it or the one ti's sitting on u need all the components to work as a team, but i gues that's just my point of view as my components are all equals to each other nice topic by the way

 

[Anonymous]

I agree. I think all parts important and need to match each other; there is no point in a great amp if the CD player cannot supply the quality it needs. However I think the speakers make a massive impact on the overall sound so I treat those as the "must get right" component. Of course it still all needs to balance. Personally I think interconnects and items like mains cables are very minor items and only come in to play on very high end kit..although I'm sure someone will differ with me.

 

[Darth Vinyl]

What if you had something like an Arcam Solo or an Arcam Solo Movie 5.1? ..... Then all the components would be of an equal quality with no intervention of interconnects. The other influences would be down to the following : -

1. Condition of the mains supply.
2. Quality and the matching of speakers.
3. Speaker cables.

This poses an interesting angle to your original question.

 

[Thaiman]

Anyone else? C'mon don't be shy......Andrew.

 

[Anonymous]

The CDs

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="Thaiman"]
Anyone else? C'mon don't be shy......Andrew.

[/quote]

The room.

 

[Thaiman]

I know andrew's answer is seem like a funny one, but yes, in my mind room correction is the most important thing in hifi. You can have £30,000 system but you will never can hear what they can do if your room accoustic is all wrong.

 

[Anonymous]

My house is very important. Without it, my system would get rained on and stolen.

 

[Anonymous]

I've been lucky with rooms thus far and as we've already got onto houses (working on that tangent, an oxygen atmospshere is pretty handy as it allows the transmission of sound and for me to breathe), for me its my Turntable. This has required the most attention in terms of parts and setup (the latter being a continuous process) and has required seperate shelving to get the most out of it. All the other components have been fit and forget for the most part.

I get the most use out of the TT as well.

 

[Anonymous]

asking what is the most important isn't of great relevance, though I might agree with 'the room' as a general win😉

A given hifi's shortcomings are always about the weak link, the part of the system dragging the rest down in quality. I'd say an average hifi setup might sound just as good as one twice the price if you have corroded terminals and a piece of chickenwire as your line level interconnect. But a rustbucket amp would achieve the same, so would a cardboard box pair of speakers.

But if you mean which would you spend more on when buying a whole new system.. then I'd say it comes down to your own preference, what do you want to be the strong points of your sound. Maybe you want it to be an all rounder, or maybe extra tight sound from that more expensive amp, or that extra physical push of sound you get from bigger speakers. Or whatever you see...

Me, I prefer bigger speakers, when It's all together I'll have an audiolab 8000c+p with some monitor audio GR20's. Sound source is still pending a decision, but right now it's my PC (SB x-fi elite-pro) and an old pioneer PD-103 that I got for a tenner. Clearly my 'paying weight' is on the speakers, but I bet you others here are different.

 

[Anonymous]

1) Room
2) Speakers
3) Rest of the gear

 

[Anonymous]

Yep,room for me too.

Then speakers that work in that room,amps that can drive the speakers,high quality source,as a speaker can't make up for information that it doesn't receive.Cabling that does the job,separate spurs.

 

[Anonymous]

ITs quite obvious that every component will affect overall sound so i guess you want to know what affects the overall sound the most? I guess the room will do that to you. But id like to add that the choice of speakers offer the most variance in quality and character (i feel, personally) and when choosing a system i feel the speakers need the most time and attention before buying them, because we all like a different sound.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Exactly, but the way they interact with your room is the most important factor, unless you use some kind of active equalisation to affect that interaction. But such equipment doesn't come cheap - see here for an idea of what I'm on about...

 

[D.J.KRIME]

One part that you have all failed to mention is YOUR EARS! all of our ears hear sound differntly so what sounds great to you may not sound so great to another.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
Exactly, but the way they interact with your room is the most important factor, unless you use some kind of active equalisation to affect that interaction. But such equipment doesn't come cheap - see here for an idea of what I'm on about...

[/quote]

I'm personally not keen on the EQ route,as I feel you are only fixing the problem at listening position or where the mic is placed,I prefer the room treatment route,getting your fist reflections treated,I have quite heavily treated my room,it's not perfect,but the imaging is superb,just a hump at 63Hz which I need to treat.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
Exactly, but the way they interact with your room is the most important factor, unless you use some kind of active equalisation to affect that interaction. But such equipment doesn't come cheap - see here for an idea of what I'm on about...

[/quote]

?r the Copland DRC-205. This is the future of HiFi...
Oh, along with active crossovers. 😛

 

[Thaiman]

Andrew, I got one of this if you would like to borrow it.....superb imo