How do you determine how much to spend on speakers

Don't worry what your're spending...worry about what you're getting. For example, if you find a pair of used speakers (by being extremely patient) for $250 that were $1800 new then you will have a lot more money for the other stuff. Just have the discipline to use what you have until you find a bargain too good to pass up and build like that. Only buy the best bargains and don't be afraid to use sources in addition to Audiogon, where the sellers may not be so sure of the going rates for their stuff. You can buy a $10,000 system for peanuts if you take your time.

Have to agree with Ddd1,buy used your 5 k budget,can turn into a 15 k system by buying used,just pay close attention to how old the cd player is,and if its been serviced or upgraded.I just spent 700 dollars serviceing my cd player.

The harsh reality is that you can put $5000 speakers in a room next to $500 speakers and the $500 may actually sound better. The room itself plays a critical part in the sound. You don't hear specs and the sound you hear will not be flat due to room acoustics. What you hear in the store will sound nothing like what the speaker sounds like in your home.

I strongly recommend buying a receiver/processor with Audyssey eq built in. It will improve your sound more than spending twice on your speakers, especially if you have a separate subwoofer.

Ignore all the hype on special cables and power filters...don't even think about buying monster cables. Unless you have exceptional ears (and a far larger budget), you will hear absolutely no difference. Just buy cables from MonoPrice and maybe a surge suppressor from home depot.

Finally, since you are sort of new to all this, keep your eyes open for used equipment...especially speakers because they are often hard or a pain to box and ship. Check your local craigslist or do ebay searches for speakers based on distance to your home. Of course, you have to be careful..some of that stuff is way overpriced, but you can absolutely find real bargains if you are patient.

As a general rule..if something is sold in any of the big box stores (e.g. best buy, Walmart,...), don't buy it. They just don't carry any of the good gear. Don't buy all the Bose hype and I've already commented on Monster Cables, etc.

First time poster pondering the same questions as we prepare to replace our 15 year old components and 25 year old speakers. In discussing building with the intent/expectation of future upgrades the one thing I haven't seen discussed is advancements in technology.

Is speaker technology more mature than all the electronics driving them? Technology has left our Pro Logic receiver and tube TV behind but I'm not so sure the same can be said for the Infinity RS7s.

We'll be upgrading speakers to a matched set of surround speakers. So all things being equal, will money spent on good speakers today be compatible/adaptable to advances in the components driving them or will today's speakers be tomorrow's Pro Logic dinosaurs?

No one can afford the perfect speaker; therefore you must determine which is the best speaker for you. You can do this be selecting 5 of your favorite CD's and audition as many different speakers as you can. This will narrow the kind of sound you like best. While the best amps sound similar, the best speakers sound as different as night and day.