The most important piece in a stereo system???

It's a little bit like asking which is the most important link in a chain. In your system it is the weakest link. Admittedly, each chain in the audio link is different. I disagree with the comment above that "good speakers accurately reproduce what they are given." I am far from a speaker expert but I have made about 20 pair and all speakers color sound a great deal. They have a really amazing job to do. A Loudspeaker is a compound transducer. In conventional speakers electrical energy is transformed to magnetic energy, magnetic energy is transferred to mechancial, and mechanical energy is transferred to acoustic energy. Every step introduces distortion (disorder). It will be this way until they repeal the law of entropy. Don't hold your breath. No speaker simply reproduces what it is given.

The frontend. Everything flows from that.....just my opinion. The other views here all valid too. We all try for the end result..music, music music. Good question, perhaps no definate right answer.....they all have merit....regards, Bluenose

Room and music go without saying, but I believe the poster (correct me if I am wrong) was thinking about "components" when he asked the question. If I am right, I may alienate some of the posters above, but I posit this question: Which "system" do you think will sound worse: (1) great source and amp/preamp combo with say $500-800 Infinity or JBL or Polk Audio Circuit City speakers; or (2) Technics CD player and receiver from Circuit City through Avalon Eidolons or PipeDreams or even Maggie 3.6s?

I have heard both types of experiments and all I can say is that even the BEST speaker in the world cannot save a crappy source or low budget reciever. BUT, the great electronics made those Circuit City speakers sound pretty damn good.

That was my experience but, as always, YMMV.

I cant believe how mixed the opinions are. I thought most of you would have said either the amp or the speakers. From most of the people that I have talked to, they either say the amp or the speakers is the most important. I also forgot to mention the room in my original post. I would like to hear more comments. thanks again!!

Souljasmooth: Consensus is real hard to come by in a field dominated by personal tastes. I'm not surprised a lot of people said "source," because that's been hyped by the marketing guys for a long time. IIRC, the "garbage in/garbage out" thesis was first articulated decades ago by a company that specialized in turntables. (Surprise!) It had some truth in analog days--there's no way an amp can fix flutter. Today, well, electronics are a lot more alike, and speakers are just as varied as ever. But people hear all kinds of things, so opinions will vary.