How do you determine how much to spend on speakers

Krazeeyk: You have been the recipient of a lot of good advice. However, I frimly believe the best advice is to trust your ears. Only you can know if something sounds good to you. What might sound good to you may not sound good to someone else. But who cares? The most important person to please here is you. You buy music because you like it not because someone else likes it. If a mini system from the Good Guys sounds better to you than a Classe / Magnepan system, then buy the mini system. This is the real practicality of the law of diminishing returns. Only you can answer the question: "Does that $500 CD player sound better than that $250 CD player"?

You will buy a system and you will get to know your system intimately over time. You will learn how your system pleases you and you will learn how your system displeases you. Probably, at some point you will be ready to make a change to correct for your systems' shortcomings. When you are ready to make a change, go listen for something else. Once again trust your ears. This cycle can happen many, many times. You are beginning on a journey here that may last a life time.

I would be willing to wager that the vast majority of Audiogon readers/members have changed and upgraded many times over the years. Each time trying to acheive that next higher level of whatever it is they like to hear.

So, go forth and listen, listen, listen. Buy what sounds good to you. Good luck.

Clueless, your comment "Some folks have suggested spending as little as $1,500 on speakers and IMHO that is sonic suicide" kicked me "square in the nuts" ( pardon my French ). This is especially true since i suggested appr $1250 on speakers !!!! I did not take offense to this, as we are all simply sharing opinions.

For the sake of clarity, i based all of my prices on used items. With the wealth of ultra high quality used items that are available at bargain basement prices, doing anything else almost seems senseless. This is especially true if you just starting out, as you will no doubt end up "upgrading" sometime down the road. It is better to get 80% - 100% of your investment in used equipment back than to get a 40% - 60% return on new gear when you decide to sell it. Even if the new gear comes with a "warranty", throwing money away every time you "upgrade" gets old REAL fast. However, i will agree that buying used speakers are the "if-iest" and most difficult proposition when it comes to purchasing used hi-fi.

For the record, i have less than $500 total in my favorite set of speakers. This includes repairs, upgrades and modifications. If it came down to it, i would sell all of my other speakers ( about a dozen pairs ) and keep these. These are older models and used to sell for about $5K when they stopped production. Needless to say, there are TONS of bargains out there if you know what to look for and where to look. Another option is to simply be patient and wait for a good deal to come along. Sometimes, this works out even better in the long run. Sean
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Sean: meant no offense.

The last sentence in the paragraph where I commented on spending 1500 on speakers was "unless you get some really exceptional deal/value out of proportion to what you spend." Obviously, if you get a 5k pair of great speakers for $500 you did just that. I tried to point out this kind of buy in the paragraph where I talked about the law of diminishing returns too when I noted "general rules about what you have to pay for good stuff are broken everyday by folks here at Audiogon." This applies to any general rule I state too! You're a smart buyer and have been around and you found a great deal. Doesn't surprise me. By the way, I'm a big fan of old equipment too. Old speakers and Dynaco 70s that you can tweak a little. But if you start down that road all normal rules for what you have to pay go out the window. IMHO ,You can't expect someone new to start out modifying old equipment.

I also based all of my general comments on buying new only if its exceptional. I gave a whole paragraph on the simple point: general rule: do not buy retail. I think the Northcreek Kit is an exceptional value for reasons stated above and he can get the NAD under $500 at Audiogon now. I think that is a value too.

It really just comes down to a simple difference of opinion between how much of a 5k budget to spend on speakers. Probably we just disagree. Barring some great deal on one of the components that throws everything off, I would normally go with over 50%. Lots of folks do not agree. I said that folks wouldn't agree with me in the last sentence of my first post so I can't say I'm much surprised.

This does not make me a "Speaker first, last and always" guy. As Whatjd calls me. Nor do I want an unbalanced system for the sake of speakers. In my first post, first thing, I asked Krazeeyk if he intended to upgrade and specifically stated that my recomendations were based on the idea that he was. Why not build a system that is readily upgradable if that is what you are thinking? I have seen friends drop all sorts of cash in endless rotations of equipment that could have been avoided had they thought about their final goal at the beginning. No poster had discussed this and I thought it a valuable thing to mention and discuss. A friend dropped an Audiomat Arpege in that set up after a year and it is really quite a system. Only kicked in 1k to do it. She is happy as a clam now and the system sounded good in the beginning too. No big sacrifice to start out -no wasted bucks.

Didn't mean a blow to the kahunas. I've read some of your posts and respect your opinion on stuff. We just disagree here. It ain't so bad to disagree w/ someone named Clueless.

Stay Cool,
I remain

As of now, the only components that I have considered are

Bryston 4B-st (used)
Rotel 971 cd player (used if possible)
Sonus Faber Grand Pianos

Ive only listened to the grand pianos, I liked them much more than the B&W nautilus 803s and the highest cdmt model. Unfortunately, I was not able to swap components on the same system to gauge the sound difference. The sonus fabers were attached to a rotel integrated amp and a denon cd player. The 803's were set up in a system with classe components. In spite of the larger price tag ofthe classe components, I liked the sound of the pianos more. Cannot say if the room made any difference. The 4B-st and the 971 grabbed my attention because Ive read numerous articles about them being "best bang for the buck" value components.
I have not given pre amps much consideration yet.
Anyone have any experiences with these components. Thanks

Clueless, actually I was thinking of others when I wrote the "speakers" line....that's why I had said "posts".... Your balance seems to be fine, however mine is always in flux!
Best, Jim