How do you determine how much to spend on speakers

with all due respect paulwp, i strongly disagree that the CDP is more significant than the amp. in my experience, just the opposite is true for EVERY system i've ever heard. i would never scrimp on the amp to spend more on a CDP.

there are so few audible diffences among CDP's these days that you need a very high resolution system just to hear them. and with an inferior amp, there's NO WAY the CDP is going to matter.

note: i realize that a $20k linn sounds a lot better than a $50 portable...my comments above refer to decent CD players below $2k.

Well, S2k, if it sounded like I think the cdp is more significant than the amp, then I disagree with me too. Biggest change in sound in my system was when I went from a midfi receiver to a hifi amp. I certainly wouldnt recommend getting an inferior amp. It's just that there are good amps that don't cost a lot of money, like the Bryston 3bST or the Muse 100 and 160. Lots of others, as well as some integrateds that cost even less and I wouldnt consider them inferior.

I do think, however, that there are audible differences in cd players under $2k, and from my pov, it's easier to find an acceptable amp than it is to find an acceptable cd player.

That was another thread, which component is more important, with some people saying speakers, others source, some preamps and a few amps.

This is starting to sound like the choice between "scrimp" and "skimp" - doesn't make a lot of difference.

on a SonyES CD player. Don't buy in this BS about DAC's and
spending money on the source. Lemme put it this way. Even a tin-ear can hear the difference between two different speakers, but it requires a golden-ear to supposedly hear differences between good CD players. Retail, my system is around $25K. Of this I have $8k on speakers, $9.5 K on a digital front end, and $7.5 K on amplification. If I had to do it again, I would probably spend $15K on speakers, $10 K on amplification, and probably $2K on the source. So you decide what I think is important

i totally agree with the last post. i defy anyone to conduct a true DBX test for comparably decent CD players. i am not holding my breath.

regardless, there's no question that differences among speakers, amps and preamps are MUCH easier to hear than those among comparable CDPs.

-s2k

S2k- didn't you just say in another thread that you regret selling your meridian 508.24? Whyever for if you can't tell the difference?

About the Sony ES cd players, I couldn't disagree more. Go buy the Cambridge, a NAD, a Phillips, Rotel, Denon, just about anything else. The Xa7ES was fine and used is a good buy, and I even have a very old 508ES that was pretty smooth, but at $500 you're talking XA20ES. I had one for a short while. Maybe it was defective, but it sounded off-pitch, like a 33 1/3 rpm lp spinning at 34 rpm. Very lively and exciting - but not accurate. I don't know how you get a cd player to do that - those guys at Sony are wizards.

Paul