How much of your total system budget on speakers?

7%

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Not counting connectors/cablesā€¦

Source: XPS DR > NDX 2 = 36.3%

Amplification: HiCap DR > NAC 282 > NAP 250 DR = 43.2=3%

Speakers: ProAC D30RS = 20.4 %

@Blackbird ā€” Not to sure I would put much stock in Paulā€™s approach. Could you ask Paul and post a sample or two of what he would propose is a balanced system he would sell?

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I donā€™t have any connections with Mr Paul :sunglasses: Paul is the CEO and founder of PS Audio in the US. PS Audio manufactures mainly same components as Naim does but has just entered the speaker market so they have no interest in selling speakers only. You can find the videos he post almost daily on their Youtube channel. Iā€™m not in any camp here, just curios on how members here have spent their money :slight_smile:

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I donā€™t spend any time on the Youtube channel. I did take a quick glance at the PS Audio site but did not see any articles posted by Paul that is why I asked if you had any examples from your source material.

No worries, this topic has been discussed in the past.

Nail on the head there Lindsay. Getting the balance right is the thing. I think people get too hung up on spending 25% on this and 40% on that. If the system gels it doesnā€™t really matter!

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12% here lol

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It is really a wrong way to ask the question. Of course if you have a low budget and donā€™t plan any future upgrades (say a total of up to 1500Ā£ for the whole system) you should spend as much as you can on the speaker which works in your room.

For everything above a certain threshold i feel that there is not real way to answer this question in numbers - nor does it really matter.

You may also have a look here for an overview:

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Around 8/9 % here.

Around 7% (pre-loved prices) for me. I forgot to factor in my subwoofer earlier, so have deleted that post of 3%.

With the powerlines, hiline and Morgana cables Iā€™ve almost spent as much on cables as I did on the speakers :flushed:

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If you are talking new prices, then 3%.

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As others have pointed out, thereā€™s an enormous assumption that youā€™re budgeting to buy one system all in one go with no upgrades ever. Now, I suppose there must be people that do that, but I donā€™t think there are many of them on this forum.

Be that as it may, Iā€™ve just broken down the cost of my system (all secondhand but bought in stages with various trade-ins, the value of which Iā€™m ignoring in these calculations) as:

Source: 18%
Amplification (including NAPSC): 29%
Speakers: 39%
Ancillaries (NACA5, FraimLite etc): 14%

I suppose that makes it a mullet, does it?

Mark

Your speaker percentage would be higher if you had spent less on Ethernet cables :stuck_out_tongue::joy::sunglasses:

Seriously though at the level of electronics we have this guy is advocating 50k speakers. Whilst great speakers must be an ambition for all (and indeed can substantially change the listening experience) source/pre must surely be priorities.

If itā€™s not coming out of the amp how can speakers present it.

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Iā€™ve not seen the video yet, however if you see size of speakers he generally shows, then its not surprising. Also being in the US, I would think they would cater for much larger rooms than the UK, so perhaps we are comparing apples with pears

Everything is bigger in Texas :laughing:

My source alone is nearly 50% of the budget in my system. It sounds fantastic. Iā€™ve built systems backwards in the past. For me itā€™s not anywhere near as musically satisfying. Iā€™m now a convert of the source first approach. Like you say, nothing can really be fixed at the back-end of the system. Whatā€™s already lost is lost.

P.S And then you change something as little as a Ethernet or an interconnect cable and BOOM. There it is!

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If the CDX2 was still in production today it would probably cost about Ā£5k, so a similar price to your amp and not much less than your speakers. So no, not that much of a mullet really.

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Just showed SWMBO Dynaudio Confidence 60, which would take speaker spend to ~50%. They received the same cold shoulder as my current favs (ATC SCM50 passive). So the list of ā€œgood lookingā€ lounge friendly candidates so far is SF Olympica Nova or Kudos 606s. 25%.

Sometimes speaker ambitions and hence % spend are limited by domestic harmony.

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Donā€™t know and donā€™t care, plus canā€™t be asked to work it out.
It sounds good and thatā€™s all that matters, says the guy thatā€™s about to potentially change his speakers Wednesday

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