How do you determine how much to spend on speakers

If you have the room for Magnapans, like the 1.6s or even 3.6s, consider them at 1725 and 3500 per pair respectively. Because the sound improves as you feed them more power, you could start with an integrated amp, or good preamp and amp, with the intent of adding more power over time. You could even monoblock or biamp them as budget allows in the future.

Audition multiple CDPs (or even the new universal players) to determine if, on your selected cuts, you can hear a difference. I would avoid SACDs and HDCDs for now, unless the specific cuts you desire are already available in these formats.

The ultimate judge of the music is YOUR ear, and no one else's.

i bought a VPI MK3 with a Morch Arm,and with the money left over purchased a Grado Reference The Reference Phono Cartridge.You would be very hard pressed to find any CD RIGsound like this one.Of course I can always upgrade the table a little more with an Aries Platter,SDS,and outer ring clamp.
You can try to get an Analog Table like this.With everything mine cost me about $1,500.00 counting cost of cartridge.My spekers cost a little more the Martin Logan Quest Z.
Happy Hunting
Don

I always ask my wife......

My plan of attack was to purchase "A class" 7.1 electronic equipment and then to purchase a borderline high end 5.1 speaker setup. This allowed me to get equipment I won't have to upgrade for a long time, while allowing me the time to save up for the "A class" stereo speakers that I can add to my setup to complete a 7.1 system down the road. The borderline high end speakers are close enough in quality to bring out the best in my equipment without me having to sacrifice in any area while I save the cash to complete my setup.

I subscribe entirely Swampwalker's opinion:

"In other words, high end speakers driven by average electronics will NOT sound as good as good electronics driving average speakers."

I had one system where the weak-link were the speakers: they were too good!!! Superb detail and transparency showed all the limitations of the source, amplifiers and cables!
I've only found two ways of making that system play enjoyable music: Replace all the electronics and cables by much more expensive ones (5k source; 11k amps; 4k cables); or replace the "high-end" speakers by normal "hi-fi" speakers.

From my personal experience I have also found out that for most balanced systems, the largest sum of money should go for the amplifiers, and not the speakers:
1. Amplifiers
2. Speakers
3. Source and cables