You can keep only one component from your system - what would it be?

[mhardy6647]

The hard drive with the music on. Everything else can be replaced.

You raise a good point.
EDIT: Although, come to think of it, isn't a subscription to a screaming streaming service all that one needs nowadays?
That's what they keep tellin' me!

Don't even understand the Harley riders for the most part, seems it would be more like riding the worst functioning bikes possible unless loud and poorly performing were key.

One has to get in touch with one's inner dentist.

 

[Mart68]

I'd keep the speakers as they are awesome and a custom build. Most amps will drive them (94db sensitivity and flat 4 ohms across the board) and a CD player is a CD player.

 

[Crook]

Revel F206 I think, largest contributing factor to the overall sound, which I enjoy. Thing is, I'd end up buying the other things second time that I have already such as RME Dac fs, or sb1000 subs. They were imo the best I could have at the price point I wanted.

 

[whereisbrian]

My records. Vinyls, CDs and FLAC files.

 

[respice finem]

Hmm, one component - for me it would be the "big fat" HDD with all of my music on it.
Ripping all my CDs to FLAC again would be a really hard "sentence"...

 

[Purité Audio]

Quboz (and active speakers)
Keith

 

[kemmler3D]

Sort of a trick question in my case but it's an easy answer: the KEF LS60s. Could pretty much go on with my life and not replace anything if budget didn't allow.

 

[JeffS7444]

MiniDSP HA-DSP headphone amplifier: It's no longer manufactured, but offers a bunch of filters plus crossfeed.

 

[Esprit]

How about you folks?

My ADAMs

 

[DSJR]

My stuff and associated stash of extras is mostly so damned old, I'd almost be grateful if someone took it all away and to be honest, I'm not sure if I'd want to keep any part of it if able to start again! The gear I really loved has long gone and now totally unaffordable (and too big!).

My thing these days, would be to see how good a 'sound' I could get from cheap-as-chips gear as larger speakers cannot be accommodated these days!

 

[Curvature]

fiscally burdensome

All of us suffer this specific bit of this hobby.

At some point everyone spends too much because of ignorance, later is focused on being focused, frugal and efficient, and comes out on the other side as focused, efficient, but willing to open the wallet for gear that constitutes, in one sense or another, an object of admiration.

 

[Djsedaw]

The volume knob!

 

[MattHooper]

I'll say that keeping the CJs is a very specific choice. A separate analog amp means a lot of other components are necessary for the system to work. Almost like not downsizing at all.

To be clear, the question didn’t assume one had to be downsizing. It’s just about which one piece of gear one finds most valuable for any reason, and would keep and use with whatever new system they rebuilt.

Would you ever consider being a modern technophile and getting all-in-one actives? No need even for a separate interface.

I disagree with the characterization about not being a “modern” technophile - in my system I use a Bluesound streamer, benchmark DAC and preamp, and my speakers are quite up-to-date.

Unless you mean a technophile is one who insists on all in one actives.

In terms of whether I would ever consider an all in one active “yes and no.” Yes in the sense that I’ve always been open to whatever option sounds best to me, and if that were an all in one, I would choose that.

But “no” in that at this point it’s not what I would look for and from my long experience it’s unlikely to satisfy me, and I have found my own path to satisfaction.

If I was advising a newbie I would say the most important item to focus on would be the speakers, as well as the room and the set up.
It would not be to focus on amplifiers, because especially if you’re going to use solid state you can find plenty of sufficient neutral amplifiers.

And I’ve had plenty of experience showing that between an amplifier and a speaker, the speaker is where you’re going to get most of the character. Whenever I audition loud loudspeakers I insist on solid state amplification, because I want to hear the character of the speakers themselves and not possible character from interaction with a tube amplifier.

So intellectually, I have something of a “speakers first” bias.

But experientially, I’ve found my CJs to be enormously important to my full enjoyment of every system I’ve had. In terms of what I’m looking for they always nudge the sound into what I find to be almost perfection in terms of the sense of organic, rich, textured, easeful quality that draws me in and allows me to listen endlessly without fatigue or boredom.

And I would really miss the aesthetics and conceptual satisfaction in owning those old tube amplifiers - something that a bunch of wires and transistors hidden away in a speaker or whatever simply wouldn’t satisfy.
I do like something of a “bespoke” quality to putting together a sound system, in which my own tastes play a part, rather than the more anonymous character many here seem to seek.

 

[MattHooper]

The volume knob!

Right!

In fact, my custom-made remote volume nob is something I really wouldn’t want to give up in my system!

 

[gsp1971]

As I’m contemplating retirement, and the possible shedding of gear at some point, I started to wonder what I could live with in terms of my system and what I could sell.

It brought to mind the question that is sort of an offshoot of this:

If your system was going to be taken away, but you got to keep one single component, from which you can move on and rebuild your system with different components, which component would you keep?

I guess it might be a version of “ what is your most cherished component in your system that you feel you could not do without?”

For me what sprung to mind is that I would choose to keep my Conrad Johnson Premier 12 tube mono amps.

They’ve been the most consistent factor in my system, as I’ve had them for something like 25 years now, powering all sorts of floor standing speakers, through periods where those were sold and I only had more modest stand mounts, and then back up to more expensive floor standers again when I could afford them.

It didn’t matter which speakers I had hooked up, every system truly sang to me with the CJs.

At this point, I don’t care whether it’s how they actually sound, or whether it’s a partial bias effect or entirely a bias effect. It does the job for me and I would want those on the end of any speaker I would use next.

How about you folks?

(I suspect I would get some slightly different answers here versus other audiophile forums, which is partially why I am curious).

My enthusiasm for music. If that fades, all gear is pointless.

But for the sake of answering the question, I am not, nor will ever be, into streaming or active speakers and such, hence I would keep my Oppo BDP-105D as a source and I would add a decent integrated amp and a pair of KEF LS50 Meta speakers, for a simple 2-channel system with just three components.

 

[mags65]

Right!

In fact, my custom-made remote volume nob is something I really wouldn’t want to give up in my system!

View attachment 484103

What a beauty!

 

[Scrivs]

RME ADI-2 DAC FS

 

[MattHooper]

RME ADI-2 DAC FS

I’m curious why that component?

 

[Alannn]

You raise a good point.
EDIT: Although, come to think of it, isn't a subscription to a screaming streaming service all that one needs nowadays?
That's what they keep tellin' me! ...

Using a music streaming service, I have not found a way to backup downloaded music (without paying for a second subscription). If the service loses all your downloads, customer support instructs that redownloading your thousands of songs one at a time is the solution. That has to be the most difficult component to replace.

This thread is slightly ambiguous because of several definitions of "component" and "system." For example, the listening room can be hard to replace. Ears can be correctly be described as a component of a listening system. Along that line of thought, a brain is more difficult to replace than ears.

 

[Timcognito]

I'll go the other way, not my best component but my only turntable, a VPI HW19 with Rega arm because I need something to play my record collection which I hardly do. I do not need or covet a different or better one so it will stay and answer when called upon to play a rare nugget not on streaming or in my 1200 recordings in my NAS.