How important do people consider this aspect of system building?

It's my view that one of the reasons why many people are dissatisfied with the performance of their hi-fi systems is because not enough care is taken with component and cable selection in terms of sonic presentation and thus how each item knits together (or not) to form a musical whole. If this isn't done properly then the system is ultimately unrewarding as a tool for appreciating music at its best.

And the so-called ‘bargain’ buys on EBay, and trying to successfully piece together a mish-mash of disparate components, are to blame for much of this dissatisfaction! But more on that later...

Marco.