cost of speakers in relation to the rest of the system

My experience is thus:

There is poor correlation between cost and performance. If you completely ignore the prices, you may find much less expensive speakers you like more.

The audiophile who develops his ears with no regards to price will be happier for far less than most others.

Best,

E

Interesting on the different takes. I guess I never went into it with a set proportion in mind, particularly with fiddling, upgrading, or trying better to match this or that or just liking a particular contraption or speaker.

More of a process...including "silliness just to see how [something] sounds," most recently SET/SEP, passive pre, r2r, and single driver.

In the primary, which doubles as a LR/DR, so a larger room with some of the requirements Almarg mentioned, although I don’t think I hit 105db very often, the speakers represent roughly 55% at MSRPs and the highest percentage in any room. Those are the most expensive pieces I’ve ever purchased, and they may always be....

But, in a small office with difficult bookshelf-type placement, near-field listening, and where I rarely listen very loudly, I think I’ve finally ended the search, and, with a sub and crossover, the speakers represent maybe about 15% of the MSRPs.

@randy---Oh, I love "discovering" a great value wine.  I found a few, but they didn't stay that way...prices recently skyrocketed.  A couple of damned WE and WS ratings, probably at least partially to blame.

In my case I  spent roughly 20% of the total
the New Martin Logan 11-A speakers are a exceptional value at $10k, the 13A if you have a big room.
they have  a 24 bit active crossover dual powered woofers per cabinet  and Bass  in room to 26 hz I my room. Seamless Bass ,  Room correction to remove Bass nulls that all rooms have . Adjustable mid,and low Bass ,and 91 db efficient .
these panels 1/3rd is curved giving a much  bigger sweet spot then in the past.
Spl levels up to 110 db if you have the power to drive them with control.
my budget was $16k for speakers and they speakers beat the majority of speakers in the $15k + area  in many department  . If you could afford 50%  of the system  in a speaker then go for it. The Speaker is the highest distortion piece of equipment without question 
therefore the highest quality you can afford will pay dividends  in musical accuracy and fidelity  This is why I personally like Electrostatic speakers ,they are the fastest transducers out there and  these new models sound very accurate .

My speakers represent less than 10% of the cost of my system based on MSRP.
As some have pointed out, you may need to spend $50K or more to buy speakers that play music accurately at realistic levels (>100 dB).

Fortunately, you can spend much less on speakers that play music very accurately at lower volume levels.
I normally listen around 70-85 dB, maybe occasionally going to 90 dB.
I also feel that my speakers are the best value item in my system.
I feel that I MAY be able to do better, but not for at least 2-3 times the price.
My speakers MSRP is/was $8800, and I think I would have to go well over $20K to beat them.

Now while I certainly could do that financially, seeing as my analog front end, digital front end, preamp, and amps each list for more than $8800, my room also has some space limitations. My current speakers are better than a former pair of $21K speakers.
Also, many $20K+ speakers are rather large, and would be too large for my room.
My room cannot handle (nor can I) 6 foot, 250 pound speakers.
A man's gotta know his limitations. ;^)

In the end, bargains can be found in almost any area of this hobby.
Some feel that their best bargain is their source, or amplifier.
I feel that the best bargain, dollar for dollar, in my system is my speakers.
I am currently running Reference 3A Grand Veenas, which I find much more musically satisfying than my previous Verity Audio Parsifal Ovations.
As always, YMMV.

I've had just about every budget speaker under the $500 threshold and no mater what the review or they all (to me anyway) were similar in one fashion or another. I always felt my speakers was the weakest link of my system and I did feel that my speakers were outclassed by my equipment all the time I don't have top-of-the-line equipment I bought it all used but I could definitely tell it was suffering from the speaker so if I had to do it all over again I would spend as much money as I could on the speakers. It wasn't until I got to the thousand dollar plus category that I felt my system was really good 
Preamp- Parasound P/LD 1100
Source- Nakamichi CD Player4
Amplifier- Parasound HCA 1500A
Speakers- (finally) Dynaudio DM 2/8
All Analysis Plus interconnects speaker wires and power cables because they're just awesome and they're make in the small town that I live in Flushing Michigan I've been in this hobby for as long as I can remember (thanks dad) but at just 32 it was tuff to get over that hump but yeah in my opinion $5,000 speakers are always going to sound better than $500 speakers even with my equipment I think the more you spend on speakers that happier you'll be no matter what just my opinion though