How do you determine how much to spend on speakers

basicly I believe there are two schools of thought, one says put your money into your speakers, and upgrade everything behind them till you are satisfied and then upgrade your speakers and begin again. The other says put it into your amplification then go either to your source or speaker next and keep on going back and forth, cabling included until you can't get it any better and then upgrade your amp. i buy my equipment with the idea of hanging on to them for at least a decade, so it is a splash but it lasts. Hope this helps.

Hi all

For those of you that are curious, I have purchased the following components so far.

Bryston BP-20 preamp
Aragon 2004 MkII
Arcam cd72.
Creek obh-9 i believe (moving magnet forgot the number)

I am currently looking to try some new speakers. Currently using wharfdale e-90s. Right now I have a strong inclination toward the Vandersteen 3A signatures.

Interestingly enough I have made my want into analog and have started to despise the cd-sound. Could by my player so I'm currently looking into either upgrading that or buying a new analog rig. Decisions decisions.

After that, the Power Amp is next.

Re: digital sound. In my experience, a good DAC can do wonders for transforming edgy, flat digital sound towards a more layered, musical, liquid analog-like experience. Like Lush, I use a modified Museatex Data II. It's the real deal. The improvement is dramatic, not subtle, compared to playback from my Sony CDP. If you find one, get it. If it doesn't work for you, you can resell at little to no economic loss. I haven't heard the unmodified version, my comments pertain to the John Wright mods. My cost was $350! Other DACs I listened to are DCS, EMM labs, Lavry, Electrocompaniet, Audio Aero, and some others I forgot.

Yikes....5K in plenty. The speaker-room interface is probably the most critical part of your system. Remember to budget for room treatments as it doesn't matter how much you spend on the rest of your system if the room is bad. The most expensive system in the world will sound like crap set up incorrectly without regard for the room.

Decent speakers w/crap electronics=crap. Here is my example.
Before i begin let me just say that I plan to sell my current speakers (Bose 901's MKVI). They were the first item purchased when I decided I want a good stereo. I always wanted a pair since I was a kid in the '70s. So I bought them without even an audition. (very bad idea). Hooked them up to a Pioneer Elite VSX52. Very disapointed. I hated them. So I bought a McIntosh MC-2205. They sounded much better, but I still did not like them at all. Recently I bought a McIntosh-252 and what a dfifference! They actually sound pretty good. Even at very high volumes. So my point is that even though the speakers may be the most important part of your decision, without quality amp, even the best speaks in the woirld will disapoint. I am looking for the 'right' speakers now. Guess I need to spend about $3-4k...and all I came in here is for some milk and a loaf of bread....