cost of speakers in relation to the rest of the system

+1 Almarg

If you want realistic sound levels then the speakers should be easily more than 50 - 80% of your investment.

Speakers are one of the few items where diminishing returns does NOT come into play until you hit astronomical prices...this is because realistic dynamics with low distortion at high SPL (needed for a true "you are there" experience) requires very large heavy cabinets with large woofers and very high quality transducers...all this is extremely expensive and there is absolutely no way around this except maybe a pair of good headphones....

Diminishing returns for speakers probably starts around $50,000 whereas for other components it can be between $2000 to $5000

Of course if realistic SPL reproduction  (loud & true full range) is not required then YMMV as modest speakers with small 8 or 6 inch woofers can often do quite well at low SPL 

"the speaker<->room interface trumps all."

110% agreed

prof,

Do you listen at loud rock levels? Thiels are amazing at moderate levels but they don't quite hang together when really pushed. Try ATC - it may float your boat if you are looking for Quad ESL low distortion mid range but still a speaker that can really rock.

Dave,

Some rare speakers have 6 drivers and some 114 components making up four crossovers - and all this driven by one amplifier on a single set of binding posts. If this worked so very well with no compromises with regard to energy or dynamics losses then we would definitely see a whole lot more of this type of heavily engineered speaker design - but there is a reason we don’t see a whole lot of designs like this and it ain’t because I am deaf.