Why do folks spend more on electronics than on speakers?

to say the speaker selection/purchase is the most important and most impactful towards the goal of great sound in the room being used is true... but it is not the same as saying the speakers need to be the most expensive component in the system... 

best not to conflate a vs b...

here is some perspective 40 years professional experience

speakers determine the overall level of what you can  acchieve

the electronics and source will derive what the speakers are capable of

great speakers can not compensate for difficiencies elsewhere

long story short the electronics preserve the integrity of the signal the better you feed the speakers the better the sound from those loudspeakers

+1 @audiotroy 

right on the money (excuse the silly pun... :)

I think people spend absurd amounts of money because they can or because they are always thinking there is something missing and off they go credit cards in hand to find the holy grail. Bad music files, bad room treatment, no DSP and bad advice means bad choices and never satisfied.

spending money on a passion is like many things in life, it can be done smartly or stupidly, with planning, consideration and knowledge, or on a whim, by bad influence, and with ignorance

this balanced against each person’s sense of proportionality, priorities and capability to afford expensive things at whatever level

done well, in midst of a well prepped room, a well chosen, well understood existing system, smart money spent can and does make a huge difference

all the garbage threads and posts here aside, becoming informed on how to spend ’smart money’ in pursuit of music and its reproduction is at the heart of why this place exists and matters

I bought my speakers first. I wound up buying Magnepan’s 1.7i, as that was the best speaker I could find within my budget at the time.

very wise...👍

these are a wonderful example of a sub-$3000 speaker, that can and will keep sounding better and better if the gear feeding them are 10-20-30 grand... it is absolutely superb and it absolutely (and not subtly) lets better and better inputs shine through

need careful setup though, but done right, they put speakers many times their cost to shame

it’s all about the fuses... 😂

seriously, it really depends... it is all a chain, so it all matters

speakers are the final transducer and different speakers certainly present the greatest variance in how sound is produced to be heard (room interaction a good part of this)

but really high performance speakers sound better and better with a superb source and excellent, well matched amplification, so whatcha gonna do?