What do you consider to be the keystone to your system?

my view is that the speakers are the keystone and the most important part of any hifi system, and where the biggest differences can be heard

Halloween Man posted:

my view is that the speakers are the keystone and the most important part of any hifi system, and where the biggest differences can be heard

which speakers do you have?

I would keep the TMS 3 and all the extra's that go with it!

AndyL posted:

Halloween Man posted:

my view is that the speakers are the keystone and the most important part of any hifi system, and where the biggest differences can be heard

which speakers do you have?

atc scm40a. sound amazing with hugo tt btw

I've had my Elite Rock for over 25 years and that would have been my answer until recently but the 552 would be harder to replace and it seems to get the best out of anything I feed it so the 552.

Linn Sondek - upgraded with arms/carts/PSU etc

And indeed that is exactly what has happened over the years:

1. Sondek - el cheapo amp & speakers (70s-80s)

2. Sondek - Meridian 101/103D - Briks (80s-90s)

3. Sondek - Linn Kairn/Aktiv/LK280*3 - Briks (90s-10s)

4. Sondek - 102/SNAXO/250*2 - SBLs (10s-present)

It has been the one consistent factor, even though our CD combos, Karik-Numeric, 3.5-Flatcap, CDX-XPS, even the Meridian 200-263 deliver arguably *cough* better SQ

MSB DAC and MicroRendu

My wife who nearly always says OK when I want to upgrade closely followed by my LP12 and NDS

Mike-B posted:

joerand posted:

What is the indispensable heart and soul of what you now have?

My flippant answer is the NAS is my keystone as that alone holds all my music.

Outside that I don't believe anything is a keystone,  the system is an integral assembly of parts,   nothing can work without the other & nothing is irreplaceable.  It might be a TT fan reverses his LP12,  or the speakers are special for whatever reason (I designed & made mine)  but nothing is sacred & everything can be replaced with something better.

I had been thinking the same thing.  My music collection -- my nas -- is truly the HEART of my music system(s).  There is no one piece of hi fi equipment that I could not replace with something that would still give me enjoyable music . . . other than the music library itself

I would have said my music collection (of course) as it used to be irreplaceable. But now we have music streaming where you can not only listen to old favourites you wished you hadn't sold but  you can also vastly expand your musical horizons and appreciate stuff you never dreamt of. So music collections are in one sense no longer irreplaceable, in fact you could argue our original collections could be described as limiting. I know there are arguments about the value of ownership of the 'physical' medium and the SQ of streaming services vs 'traditional' sources but streaming is catching up in the SQ stakes. Certainly Tidal is sounding pretty good to these cloth ears these days with the promise of better SQ to come. Anyway, enough of that.

So if it is not my music collection that now takes prime position, then it must be either my pre amp (252) or my NDS. But if we listen to rumour and speculation, these components might (just might) be superseded either as discrete components or as a combo streamer-preamp. So maybe these are replaceable, possibly even improvable (I know there is no such word but I am sure you get my drift) for similar/less? money.

This is turning out to be a fascinating question posed by the OP!

Bart posted:

Mike-B posted:

joerand posted:

What is the indispensable heart and soul of what you now have?

My flippant answer is the NAS is my keystone as that alone holds all my music.

Outside that I don't believe anything is a keystone,  the system is an integral assembly of parts,   nothing can work without the other & nothing is irreplaceable.  It might be a TT fan reverses his LP12,  or the speakers are special for whatever reason (I designed & made mine)  but nothing is sacred & everything can be replaced with something better.

I had been thinking the same thing.  My music collection -- my nas -- is truly the HEART of my music system(s).  There is no one piece of hi fi equipment that I could not replace with something that would still give me enjoyable music . . . other than the music library itself

Hopefully you have your music backed up off system to avoid loss if something catastrophic happens to the NAS (and connected items), so that being the case, what other thing would you hang onto if the rest had to go?

Gosh what a really difficult question to answer.  If you ignore the music because that is clearly a given, I still don't think I could give an answer.  I truly love my Hugo which is such a good source for its cost and which is more than capable of serving a higher end transport should I need it to, so it would be easy to say the Hugo.  However, now that I have got a Hicap DR on my SN2 I find I truly am very happy indeed with it to the extent that I recently turned down the chance to add a 250dr and start to upgrade my amp and purchased a TT instead, so it would be easy to say the SN2 too.  And come to think of it I am really really missing my TT after idiotically damaging the cartridge.  I could live without my tuner which is great but my least used source but I'm really really happy with the rest of it.  Damn, what a great question!  

My Linn Sondek LP12 - I have lived with an LP12 for 34 years now and it's evolved to remain the cornerstone of my system. 

Innocent Bystander posted:

Hopefully you have your music backed up off system to avoid loss if something catastrophic happens to the NAS (and connected items), so that being the case, what other thing would you hang onto if the rest had to go?

I think you are missing my point,  yes the NAS backed up (of course) in 2 places,  but the system is an integral assembly of parts, nothing works on its own & everything is replaceable.  

It must be my NDS - when it had to go away for several weeks, I felt as if someone literally stole my music...

I'd try to keep the whole LP12 -- but failing that, I'm hanging on to the Aro.

LP12 + Ittok + Troika + NAC62 + HICAP + NAP 140. It is so musical, I have had a hard time to find something like this.

My system, music collection, rack, etc., couldn't be there without my enthusiasm for the music.

As Mike says the kit is an assembly of parts each one dependent of the other  but each one replaceable (I don't have anything irreplaceable or unique).  If I had to rescue one piece, my choicewould be the 252.

My LP-12 , a faithful analog source since 1978.

I too will join the LP 12 choir.  Bought in 1996 and upgraded numerous times, each making a noticeable difference.  Number 2 might be the 252 or the Superline/Supercap combo.

Mike-B posted:

joerand posted:

What is the indispensable heart and soul of what you now have?

My flippant answer is the NAS is my keystone as that alone holds all my music.

Outside that I don't believe anything is a keystone,  the system is an integral assembly of parts,   nothing can work without the other & nothing is irreplaceable.  It might be a TT fan reverses his LP12,  or the speakers are special for whatever reason (I designed & made mine)  but nothing is sacred & everything can be replaced with something better.

+1

Spot on. It's a "system". Take anything out and the whole thing is pretty useless. But the music collection is the one thing that renders any sytem pointless (unless you are radio all the way) and therefore is the cornerstone of several systems at home.

My speakers.  They are unique (at this time), and I could not afford to replace them.

Charlie,

Having had the pleasure of hearing those gems I can fully appreciate your choice. A labor of love with a great end result. Lots of personal sweat equity in those speakers.

Interesting responses so far, 'the listener' was a nice unexpected choice . 

As a physical media player I was wondering how many would say their music and that's the keystone for me. Everything else is readily replaceable. Rebuilding physical media holdings would be a costly and labor intensive venture, original vinyl pressings in near mint condition especially so. Additionally, some LPs I've had for well over forty years have irreplaceable sentimental value. I could never hope to completely replace the physical media I now own.

Much different from downloading back-up files onto a new NAS or ordering another SN2.