Cost break down of hifi system


Hello, just curious on what you guys recommend for the cost breakdown of a hifi system ? I have heard a lot about 15%-20% for cables and roughly 30% on speakers. Right now I am in the middle of building my new system. I currently have pass labs xp-12 demo model and an x250.8 NIB from Reno Hifi. I got a hell of a deal at $13500 for both. I also got a very light demo pair of Dynaudio contour 60i for 25% off. Based off what I have given, could you guys give me a breakdown on what I should spend on source and cables ? I was leaning at the Cardas cyngus cables. For dacs I was looking at the all in one lumin t3 or an aurender n200 with the chord qutest dac. I am also debating which audioquest niagra to get, the 1200 or 3000 ? Seems the me the 1200 does everything.  I’m open to suggestions so please tell me if I am off track. I wanna get it right the first time. 

shtr74sims

Showing 2 responses by hilde45

I like @kota1 answer but would amend as follows:

1) The room

2) Speaker, speaker placement

3) Preamplifier and equally DAC/source

4) Amplifier (matched to speakers, of course)

5) interconnects

6) power

P.S. About cables. I found that upgrading to better versions of my Analysis Plus IC's and speaker cables allowed a clearer, more transparent signal through. (I did not spend a bundle on them and I got them used.) Because I have a tube dac, preamp, and amp, there are many ways to tweak the sound down the line from that nice, clear source. Indeed, based on things @decooney and @djones51 and others have argued, I'm currently trying a non-tube DAC (the Schiit). For me, the objective is to retain the tube sound I like by flavoring what is initially the clearest signal from streamer and DAC. Keeping various forms of noise away from those sources is a concomitant requirement, of course.