Goodband, welcome to AH. We’re always glad to see newcomers here. They may or may not know anything about home audio, or they may know little but misinformation. I consider it our job to give them some straight answers. Some of us try to be polite, and some of us suffer fools worse than others
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I think our main mantra here would be that nothing matters in home audio as much as speakers. Speakers are where the rubber hits the road. There are a large number of speaker manufacturers and wide variety of speaker sound styles. Choosing speakers that you personally like can be a slow process. We like to offer guidance in that, but remember that all we can do is tell you our own experiences in choosing what we personally like. Your mileage may vary…
Spending extra money on speakers will likely result in greater differences in sound quality, than spending extra money other audio gear. This includes receivers, amplifiers, and the various different analog or digital sound sources. Yes these items are needed, but the differences among them are much less likely to make an audible difference. Because this is a hobby, just how much different people spend on all this varies widely.
We have a separate category for other items – snake oil. This would include speaker cables, speaker cable terminals, speaker cable insulation; interconnects and their various terminals & insulation. I could go on with this list, but I think you get the point. Again, it is important that you have speaker cables, etc., but changing them for more expensive ones are not likely to make any difference.
