Percentage to spend on Amp and Speakers

Trejla has a good point. I think I took for granted that most people understand that some components do not work well with others. That is one of the many benefits of Audiogon. If you cannot audition recommended equipment you can at least ask opinions and find both arguments for and against certain purchases. Auditioning is, however, the best path to follow, but not always practical. I still maintain that the speaker should be the bulk of your investment. Other components can be upgraded as money becomes available. But if you don't concern yourself with what is actually reproducing the sound, you are putting the horse in front of the proverbial cart. I wouldn't get caught up in cables and interconnects. Buy good quality and you should be happy.

One does usually put the horse in front of the cart, proverbial or otherwise. As someone who just purchased new speakers (used, 1/3 retail), speakers I love and plan to have for many years, speakers I will upgrade around, I agree with Wsmatau that it wise not to, er, put the "cart before the horse." :-))

Whoops...lol

I think you should always try to buy the best(to you) you can. And buy things you will be happy with, isn't that the point of this hobby? As a rough guide, I think you start with your likes and dislikes. Include how you listen, what you listen to, what you listen for, and so on. Next, you consider the room. Then you can think about speakers. They must match first the room, and then the amplification. This takes more thought than it may appear. I just realized that it all snowballs. Then move on to amplification. I think speakers and amplification both require you to look both up and downstream. Room and amp for the speakers. Speakers and source for the amp. Continue on with your source components. Wire is the LAST thing to worry about. There should be a synergistic match of the upstream component, wire, and downstream component. Synergistic is also subjective. Making things sound best to YOUR ears. As in the end, that is the only thing that matters. Rarely do our lives follow such meticulous blueprinting, but if I had to start from scratch, I would follow this map. Happy listening!

Put at least 1.5k + in your source.it is the most important part of your system.Do the speakers last.when you have all else in place then you have great flexibility in speakers.