Zombie thread!
Here are mine. I'm sure yours will be different, or even contradictory.
1. The recording matters the most.
2. The transducers, speakers, headphones, & cartridges, are next most important.
For me the first two are switched.
That's because the number one thing that I want out of my 2 channel audio system is a presentation that makes me want to sit and keep listening.
And for me it's the speaker that makes or breaks this experience. I don't care if a speaker is full range or whatever, if I'm bored sitting in front of it, it doesn't matter how great the source is. Conversely, if I am using a speaker that I really like, I can enjoy or at least feel compelled to listen to a wide variety of source quality, including fairly poor quality.