Which is the most vital component for stereo music?

This poll is missing one most important part..
The room itself.
i would think the room acoustics would take preference over the amplifier.
but to pick between the other three would be very difficult.
when u think practically, u cannot do much about the room and neither the source cause u have no control over the CDs that are pressed and released and u don't know the kind of studio they were recorded in.
The only thing u have 'full' control over are the speakers.
I would bet on the speakers.

the amplifier has my vote. imagine this scenario. u have a pair of cheap diamond 9.1s. now instead of a ss amp, bung in a tube amp and suddenly the sound quality is elevated.

of course this argument presumes that u agree that tube sound is better than solid state.

even if you dont agree that tube sounds better, you'd have to agree that the quality of sound will change drastically, whether better or for the worse will be a personal opinion, but change drastically it will. and therefore the amp makes the most difference.

the change in sound quality i'm talking about is the change in tonal quality from ss to tube and i rate that as a far bigger/drastic change than increased bass, clearer midrange and the other attributes of a good top notch speaker vis a vis a run of the mill one...

By source, I meant the player not CDs/LPs or Tape. You are right room is very important but in most cases we (poor guys) do not have control over it.

agree on the above.. from what I have understood the Room can contribite as much as 50% to the sound !

As the former editor of the Absolute sound (REG) mentioned once, he would rather have a mediocre system in a good setting in a well treated room than a wonderful system in an unplanned room.. as it was definite to sound worse !

But if we somehow manage to ignore the room the next biggest change that you can notice is via the speaker... again the most subjective and varying component in audio.. but each speaker with the same response sounds different and very obviously so !

Next perhaps comes the Source and then the Amp. but then problem is almost any source goes with any amp.. but you need to manage the Amp-Speaker synergy very very well to get a good sound :).

Hence the Amp as a compnent might rate lower than the source, but the AMP-Speaker combination is almost as important as the Speaker itself !!!!

diskspinner schrieb:

By source, I meant the player not CDs/LPs or Tape. You are right room is very important but in most cases we (poor guys) do not have control over it. :L

What good is a state of the art player when the media counds like $3#@.

On a medium/low budget, the speaker is going to make the biggest contribution. An entry level cd player and a decent stereo amp driving a good speaker will give far better sound than a hi-end source/amp driving a mediocre speaker. I think the speakers differ the most than any other component at moderate price points. But once you reach a saturation point (money no-object situation) then maybe the source/amp will take your system to the next level. At this level people start looking for high-end dacs/transports and class A/tube amps which can dramatically change the sound.

A more holistic statement would be “everything is important”. At any given price point balance and synergy is what will make or break a system. This includes everything including your speaker cables and interconnects. You can achieve far better sound with a balanced and tweaked system at 1lac than a haphazardly assembled system for 2lac even though it may have the best source/amp/speakers.

Just cannot cast my vote, all three are important. What I feel more important is the ratio at which you split your budget. There too you can drive a medium quality speaker with limited low end response with a good high current amp with amazing results. The source also plays an important role, you cannot make music with amp and speakers ! you hear only a part of what the source outputs, ie assuming you have an tranparent system. This has been thrashed from the days lp's to sacd and I feel will always be an un-answered one.

The synergy is the most important component for me !

If the question were.. "you have around 2000 USD. what component would you upgrade" would give a clearer picture. each one of us might decide on a different component baszed on what one feels is the "Missing Factor"

i would go with ani,
guess all three are equally important-

r
anirvan

Agree with Ani.

1) Basically Amp & Speaker need to work together. The performance of the same speaker with different amp can vary drastically and vice-versa. For example, while many would consider the low-frequency "boom" to be a problem of the speaker...in many occasions it could actually be due to amp's inability to control the speakers (dampening factor, current rating, etc.,). Hence i would say, the amp & speaker combo has to be good...not just individually.

2) CD players are extremely important. They play an important role in re-creating the dynamics/harmonics of recorded music. A problem at source would be magnified by a good amp/speaker setup (like the LCD TV magnifying the lousy cable signals we get at home).

While that is the truth, how many of us can actually afford these ideal setups !!.

Hence my choice would be start with a good speaker and then hunt for a amp that will match the closest to the speaker. CDP would depend on my budget and upgrade path...


Cheers
Siva.

I would tend to agree with Arj.The speakers are the 'last mile' and it's important to get that right.The Amp's next.It must be able to partner the speaker 'just so'.
To me, source comes last esp if you use a CDP.

All this, is ofcourse academic if you happen to belong to that group, where budget is defined by a 'money no object' philosophy

THe source has always been the most important & will always be.
Rgds

Prithvi

Dear siva,
There are many products with matched speakers and amps like the active crossover ones. What do u say about that?

cheers,
Sandeep

anirvan schrieb:

i would go with ani, guess all three are equally important- r anirvan

I understand. I did not include option for "All Three" simply because I thought too many people will vote for that option, which in effect will nullify the objective of this poll.

Obviously there are other factors like room (not always in our control), cables & interconnects (not as important as the listed 3 options at least to me), media (generally we do not get to test before buying)

Prithvi schrieb:

THe source has always been the most important & will always be. Rgds Prithvi

Prithvi, The Linn training seems to have been really effective !!

guys i wud asy that the source wud be the main criteria here......that wud be the CD/DVD/SACD,etc.......if they recorded in a bad way then the best of the amps and speakers wud sound the worst and then the rest of the setup follows.....take the example of the metallica's St.Anger album recording.....it is the natural recording direct from the studio and it still sounds quite bad, though they are one of the best and the oldest group around.......

edges

The POll results seem to be very heavily favoured towards the Speaker.. But I think if we had another criterion ie

"All three are ALMOST equally important, it all depends on System Matching"

we might have had a different result !

I'd say all three components play an equal and important
role. Its pretty simple to me. All three should be of the
similar calibre, entry level or serious hi-end. Each must
make the most of the entire configuration. Nothing should
be an overkill for the other.

cheers

Your pocket and your BWFH (B**ch wife from hell) are the most important components regarding audio systems. .Tackle the financial issue and the spouse will growl louder than a double 18" subwoofer.Moral of ishstory is system sound is co;oured in frony of wife.

Regards Deaf.

Hi !

Please do permit to try and phrase this question a little differently;

What component in your opinion would make the most difference [to the sound] if one of the 3 [as was initially asked in the opinion poll] were downgraded ?

Do let me try and explain :

If you had a set up that was from Linn [just for the sake of taking an example]. The CD Player & Pre Amplifier & Power Amplifier all were from Linn, then what change when made would be most 'audible' ?

Suppose you had a CD Player @ 2000 Pounds & a Pre Amplifier @ 1000 Pounds & a Power Amplifier @ 2000 Pounds & a Speaker @ 2000 Pounds. From this we had to reduce any 1 component by 500 Pounds in value [250 pounds in the case of the pre amplifier] then which 'drop' in price & hence 'probable drop' in audio quality would be most 'audible' ???

I.E. After the drop, either of the components would be on the below stated value :-

CD Player @ 1500/- Pounds
Pre Amplifier @ 750/- Pounds
Power Amplifier @ 1500/- Pounds
Speaker @ 1500/- Pounds

Hence, out of the 4 components, 3 of them would remain @ their original price & any 1 of them would come down to the price mentioned. After this change were done, what would make the 'most' difference' ?

What do fellow forum members have to say ? Your comments & reactions would be well appreciated.

Regards,

BHAGWAN69

P.S. I took the example of Linn, I could have chosen anyother brand, Naim, Rega, Quad, etc. This was done so that the example could be well demonstrated......... That is all.

Assuming you start with a balanced system any degrading change at both the ends will be most noticeable. An improvement in speakers will bring out the deficiencies of source to the extend how transparent and resolving the pre-power amp is. Electrical to mechanical energy conversion stages of speaker and the inverse in case of vinyl source are the most complicated and delicate ones of the audio chain. This is one area where tubes glow over SS by being more gracefull distortors

My vote is I'll take 500 from the pre power combo and spend it on source and speaker.

Arj schrieb:

Prithvi schrieb: THe source has always been the most important & will always be. Rgds Prithvi Prithvi, The Linn training seems to have been really effective !! :D

Arj,
sure man, it really was effective and yes the most important is the source. Just change your source to a better one and hear the difference. IMHO.
Rgds

Prithvi