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Speakers are the first piece of the puzzle

Hello All!

This is aimed at understanding one particularly prominent posture on mapping out how to proceed in amassing a great audio outfit with speakers being the most significant ingredient, and initial purchase.

From the Audiogon pages alone, if you read between the lines, one can find that there are several approaches for how to erect an outstanding audio system as to which component should be the initial or by some accounts the largest system investment, or both everytime.

IMHO, The predominant system establishing camps are speakers first, amps first, or sources first. in deference to topologies such as panels vs cones, tubes vs. SS, analog vs. digital, as those preferences are options within options.

For the record, I’m not a card carrying member of the ‘speakers first’ organization. And see an eventually proud highly resolving great sounding system as a work in progress which begins where ever and endss when ever.


So, lets get to the lightening round…Questions:

1. why do you feel any system should begin life with speaker s the first building block AND its greatest investment?

2. which speakers were your first system build?

3. How long did you keep them?

4. were later speaker systems brought in prior to any other ‘component’ changes?

In other words, has the ‘speaker first and always’ theme been your blueprint forever, or at some later point, reveal itself as a much better plan?

tremendous gratitude for all the input.
blindjim
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
No matter how you cut the cake you're trying to drive a pair of speakers. The sole reason for everything behind them to exist is to exploit their best attributes and potential. The speakers are what make the sound. You can drive amps and sources into dummy loads all day long and they make no sound at all. I've read Erik's amps first thread and none of that reasoning made any sense to me. 
My system is still a work in progress. I've got my Focal 936's, my F5, and I'm doing my homework on pre-amps to build. It's all about getting the best out of those speakers. Not the amp. Not the source. Not the cables. And most definitely not the freaking fuse like some nutjobs around here. 
erik_squires
5,268 posts
 
Well, the argument missing is the room. The room and how speaker friendly it is determines a great deal about what speakers you are going to be able to choose among.

From basic things like what size, and where you will place them come out issues about dispersion, dynamic range and then tuning.

A good sounding room plays well with a lot of speakers. A poor sounding room will demand certain types of speakers to sound good.

Whether you start with speakers, or amps, or DAC, I would spend money on room acoustics LONG before I spent any money on fancy cables of any sort.

Best,

E
hddg's avatar
hddg
121 posts
 
it came at a later point, when I really got into the hobby, seeking knowledge, having experience, and using common sense!!
get a bad speaker, and you're stuck whatever you do - sure can improve them with very expensive electronics, but the other way around is totally playable.
willemj
1,036 posts
 
It is all about relative error. Distortion of even an affordable modern DAC is ultra low, and so is noise. Frequency response is amazingly flat, and better than the 0.2 dB limit of human hearing acuity.
Solid state amplifiers are usually almost as good, and do not deserve much attention either beyond three issues that plague some: excessive input sensitivity, load dependent frequency reponse, and insufficient power. But it is not hard to get these right for a modest budget.
Speakers are horribly bad by comparison. Distortion is often hundreds of times worse than for electronics, and frequency response similarly and audibly deviates from flat. A few dB plus or minus from 100-10000 Hz is already pretty good, but clearly audible. And that is in an anechoic chamber or in the open air. Put the speaker in a real room, and things get even worse. Such deviations are so large that they will completely mask any  imperfections in the electronics.
Therefore, the audiophile obsessions with electronics and cables is completely misguided, even if profitable for dealers. It misappopriates resources into areas where they make no contribution, and denies resources to where a real sonic contribution can be made: speakers in the room.
jon_5912
252 posts
 
I remember reading an interview with a dealer where the dealer recommended spending most of the money on electronics for a new system and then upgrading speakers later.  I thought about it for a while and realized that this is the best for a dealer because it allows them to sell legitimate upgrades down the road and they'll make more money.  If they sell a perfectly adequate but not terribly expensive source or amplifier initially, the customer will inevitably be disappointed when the upgrade to a higher end unit later on makes little or no audible difference. 
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