Where does the sound of your system lie?

if you had to pick one type of component that contributed the most to the sound of your system what would it be?
source
interconnects
integrated
pre
power
speaker cables
speaker
racks
power leads
power conditioning.

for my money i've got to go with source first here.

cheers


julian

 

I'll go for source too.

 

The room, for me.

I know thats not on the list (hey, I can cheat! :MILD: ) but the fact that my room is echoey and boomy is the biggest single thing dictating its sound.

The hifi sounds great in other peoples houses!

When I move next, cant wait for the best listening room in the whole wide world!


Hifi wise ermm Id go with speakers. They seem to dictate a systems sound the most IMHO.

Cheers
Chris

 

All considered, power conditioning has had the biggest impact on my system, followed closely by an upgraded cdp. This is possibly symptomatic of the fact that i run slightly more 'mid-fi' equipment which probably responds substantially better to these 'tweaks' than more expensive gear.

It must be considered though, that surely it is extremely difficult to try and gauge the effect of one type of component in relation to another.

e.g
you may change cdp in system X - which generates a greater improvement than changing the amp say in system X.

However, you may never have discovered that in system Y, the amp may have brought greater gains than the cdp in system Y.

There are so many configurations obviously, that it is difficult to gauge exactly the 'potential' of a single piece of kit in RELATION to another different type of kit.

Also say you change component X - has little effect - and then adding component Y has a big effect - how do you necessarily know that Y is doing the business? It may just be that Y has realised the potential of X and Y is in fact doing little?

Not put this very well, but nevermind, i've just always thought that it is very difficult to gauge with accuracy exactly how one piece of kit is serving up the goods in relation to a different TYPE of kit. I suppose basically this brings us full circle to Synergy, which is what it is all about.

Too much rambling....must stop

 

I've answered in relation to my system as you have asked, however having read Chris' reply, if it was to be looked at objectively on a blank piece of paper i would agree that the room without question contributes most (and its not on the list) and the critical interaction with the speaker/room interface.

cheers

 

the reason I put source is that my speakers, cables and amps are pretty transparent and neutral sounding, so allowing the source to do its thing.

But I agree with you, the room has major influence in most systems. Of course, there are ways round it, you could get a tact room correction system for instance. but from what I have experienced, that gives sound quality compromises which wouldnt be prepared to live with.

Cheers, Robbo

 

i left the room off the list as this is pretty much unchangeable once you've got living arrangements sorted out. yes you can add certain room treatments but these seem to be of dubious value as all rooms are different and i've never heard of anyone who is 100% happy with any of them (or can someone put me right on that score?). or you can go the tact route but this smacks of throwing the baby out with the bath water unless you like the inherent sound of the tact gear.

when i auditioned my system i decided on the speakers first as i had to stick a flag in the sand somewhere. i liked the sound of them in the 2 or 3 systems i initially auditioned so consequent auditions were done using the b&w's.
if i were to re-build my system i'd probably try to settle on a source component first using gear i know as a test and then match cables, electronics and speakers to try and maximise the source rather than the other way around.... however i suspect that either approach is valid given that you listen to lots of combinations.
cheers

julian

 

Since we're being awkward with our answers, how about one more not on the list - YOU!!!!

We all of us appear to have different takes on what constitues good sound, and so will wet ourselves over different sounding gear, but (unless we're completely perverse) go for matching components of balanced characteristics that steer the system towards our own version of sonic nirvana.

 

if i,ve said it once ,i,ve said it a thousand times the electrics .

 

I understand the question, but perhaps one could rephrase it as: around which component did you build your system?

Because the synergy does exist, and the central unit in my system (the amplifier) commanded a certain kind of speakers and a certain type of CDP.

For me it was the Lavardin. I never heard a more tone accurate and transparent sounding piece of equipment. CDPs seemed obvious: the Meridian was perfect with the amplifier, but I had a tough search for speakers.

 

Room aside, for me, its got to be the speakers....even the same pair of speakers can sound so different with slight change in positioning.

 

easy peasy,my soldering iron,without it it would be pretty quiet around here

 

My system is source orientated but is effected by all the components in the chain, and I include mains and room effects in that.

My perceptions also effect how I hear the system, some days I just don't want to listen to music!
The radio is nearly always on but the channel is 5live for the rolling news coverage. The Quad 77tuner is attached to the cable tv fm radio feed so I get nearly fm quality on the program material.

 

Very easy question to answer here, my system is the sum of it's parts, as a whole, not one any piece of kit has a serious profound impact if changed, even for a Wadia 270/27Ix or MSB platium link, it's about the Synergy of the associated componaents, however Chris quite rightly pointed out the Room, this plays a serious part in the overall finished quality of the sound.WM

 

Gotta say the speakers change the sound most...

 

Currently... my speakers.. (DIY)... because they sound completely crap at the moment and I've yet to get round to doing anything about it..my priorities lie elsewhere from hi-fi at the moment.. and for the foreseeable future also !.

GTM

 

The speakers, no doubt...

 

The whole thing, not just one thing, for me anyway....

 

Perhaps an ambiguous sort of question!

Switch a tweeter on a speaker and the whole sound of the system can be radically changed - more perhaps than by switching any other single component. In good or poor systems the speakers have a considerable effect on the way the system sounds.

But source provides information and so without quality there output quality will be poor.

 

Of the components I've changed recently, the speakers and the DAC made by far the biggest difference (for the better). I would even say that the DAC was the biggest change of the two allthough it's a close call

Michael.