How do you determine how much to spend on speakers

Dennis_the_menace

I'm glad the upgrade was worth it for you, but in my experience it just is not cost effective to spend a large percentage of my audio system's budget to upgrade amps. IMO, sink $2000 in an amp upgrade and I see only a little benefit [unless it replaces a very old or just plain bad amp]. Spend that $2000 on a speaker upgrade and the benefits are incredible.

There's certainly an argument for amps giving sound benefits, definitely more so than cables or line amplifiers which I consider bordering on quackery. It's just that I consider amps the third most important after source and speaker; and a distant third for me.

Everyone's mileage varies of course.

!0 years ago i was in the exact same boat.I put almost all my money into the speakers(B+W matrix 801s series 3).I have never regreted doing it that way and would still do it the same way.Incidently I still have the 801's but now with a highend front end.With each improvement I got to rediscover all my cds all over again.I had alot of enjoyment doing it this way.Now I have bryston sst amps,bryston preamp with dac etc..The speaker does still make the single biggest difference in the sound of reproduced music....goodluck..

I'm with Dennis_The_Menace, with minor reservations.

With the great older speakers out there, you needn't spend a lot on speakers. Also, new midfy front ends are closing in on hify performance.

Virgil, you may be correct that $2000 amp upgrades will not buy musical bliss, but with the advent of the new CLASS D amps burgeoning onto the scene, $2000 into new amps will go a LONG way into improving your system's sound. In fact, it most probably will be all you need to spend on amps.

I have $1500 in glorious used speakers (Apogee Scintilla) that defy modern speaker attempts to equal. Added to those, $1000 in a wonderful transport/DAC front end (Liteon DVDROM/Audio NoteDAC). Most importantly, I put $3000 into mono blocks (H2O ICE powered class D), and that took my system into a stunning new universe of sound reproduction parameters.

At CES 2004, Dave Wilson was trying to answer this age-old question in a creative new way - he set up a pair of $16,000 competitor's speakers powered by Krell electronics and driven by a very high end ($20k+) transport system.

He secretly drove his $11,000 Sofia's with an iPod, a $1,000 amp and Radio Shack cables. All who listened said the Sofia's blew the other speakers away.

His message: If you have $15,000 to spend on a system, pay $11,000 for speakers (his, of course), use your existing electronics (if possible) or buy modestly priced, quality gear. Speakers make the biggest difference.

Whether you agree or not, I think he showed some guts doing this.

I don't think this took any guts. He was obviously able to choose the other products and make the comparison BEFORE the show.

Richard