I am not a believer in the source-first paradigm. My perceptions as my system evolved over the years have been that speakers (and the speaker/room match) are the primary determinant of both overall system accuracy and of how enjoyable my listening experiences are.
I don't think it's possible to define a general guideline as to what percentage of total system cost should be allocated to speakers, because as has been mentioned above the cost of the speakers will be heavily influenced by what compromise in bass extension is acceptable to the particular individual, and also by the peak volume levels that are required to support the room size, the listening distance, and the kinds of music that are listened to.
As for speakers first or source components first, consider that what really comes first in the chain is the recording itself. And I think that just about all of us will agree that the quality of most recordings leaves a lot to be desired (putting it mildly). My initial expectation as my system improved was that poor to mediocre recordings would become less enjoyable to listen to, with their "warts" being resolved more clearly. But in fact I found that the opposite happened, because nearly all recordings seem to get at least something right (say, some parts of the mid-range), and as my system improved my attention would be drawn by the increased realism to what was right about the recordings, not to what was wrong.
But inaccurate speakers, or at least speakers with significant additive colorations, for me ruin every recording, good or bad.
And I would view the speaker vs. source component question as being comparable to speaker vs. source material, albeit obviously to a different degree.
YMMV, but fwiw that's been my perception.
Regards,
-- Al
I don't think it's possible to define a general guideline as to what percentage of total system cost should be allocated to speakers, because as has been mentioned above the cost of the speakers will be heavily influenced by what compromise in bass extension is acceptable to the particular individual, and also by the peak volume levels that are required to support the room size, the listening distance, and the kinds of music that are listened to.
As for speakers first or source components first, consider that what really comes first in the chain is the recording itself. And I think that just about all of us will agree that the quality of most recordings leaves a lot to be desired (putting it mildly). My initial expectation as my system improved was that poor to mediocre recordings would become less enjoyable to listen to, with their "warts" being resolved more clearly. But in fact I found that the opposite happened, because nearly all recordings seem to get at least something right (say, some parts of the mid-range), and as my system improved my attention would be drawn by the increased realism to what was right about the recordings, not to what was wrong.
But inaccurate speakers, or at least speakers with significant additive colorations, for me ruin every recording, good or bad.
And I would view the speaker vs. source component question as being comparable to speaker vs. source material, albeit obviously to a different degree.
YMMV, but fwiw that's been my perception.
Regards,
-- Al