Spend more on Speakers or Amplifier

[Zwischen]

As we begin to indulge our passion in music, We usually buy the best speakers we can on our budget .
However in most cases I have seen that we cringe on Amplifiers.

As far as I know the ratio should be 50% of total budget on speakers and 50% of total budget on a Amplifier.

However would spending more on a Amplifier make more sense ? and spend less on a speakers ?

I have heard mediocre speakers sound fantastic because of the use of really good amplifier and a brillaint speaker sound mediocre since it was paired with a run of the mill amp.

Infact at most AV shops when we audition speakers we usually hear them with very good equipment and that sways us in the diretion of buying that particular speaker
However at home with our amps. The experience is completely different and we are then in the constant search of trying to get the same sound that we heard initially.

So shouldn't we spend more on our amplifers and set aside 60-70& of our budget on that and 30 -40% on speakers ?

 

[saj2001ind]

read a lot and spend more on good speakers, bcoz a decent avr/amplifier will give amazing sound if the speakers are good

ratio afaik amp - around 35% rest all speakers

 

[Zwischen]

read a lot and spend more on good speakers, bcoz a decent avr/amplifier will give amazing sound if the speakers are good

ratio afaik amp - around 35% rest all speakers

Lets tak about 2 channel stereo and leave AVR / HT out of the question.

lets use 2 examples as per what you are saying

Example (1)
With a budget of 50,000 for speakers + Amp a person should spend 37,000 on speakers and 13,000 on a stereo amp
( this does not make sense)
So if a person buys a lets say KEF Q300, he should mate it with something that costs 10,000 ( with this budget a Norge 2060 )
Would the KEF live upto its potential.

Example (2)
With a budget of 1,00,000 for speakers + Amp a person should spend 75,000 on speakers and 35,000 on ampliification.
( again does not make sense )
So if a person buys a Monitor Audio FS speaker or Focal 726 FS . he should mate it with a 35000 amp ( which in this case would be a Mrantz PM 6004 / or similar)

I dont think the MA or the Focal would ever live up to its potential with a mediocre amp

Infact in both the examples I feel the overal expereince will be not worth the money spent.

Its like buying your new girlfriend a diamond ring and you take her to a dhaba and propose to her over there.

 

[doors666]

Lets tak about 2 channel stereo and leave AVR / HT out of the question.

lets use 2 examples as per what you are saying

Example (1)
With a budget of 50,000 for speakers + Amp a person should spend 37,000 on speakers and 13,000 on a stereo amp
( this does not make sense)
So if a person buys a lets say KEF Q300, he should mate it with something that costs 10,000 ( with this budget a Norge 2060 )
Would the KEF live upto its potential.

Example (2)
With a budget of 1,00,000 for speakers + Amp a person should spend 75,000 on speakers and 35,000 on ampliification.
( again does not make sense )
So if a person buys a Monitor Audio FS speaker or Focal 726 FS . he should mate it with a 35000 amp ( which in this case would be a Mrantz PM 6004 / or similar)

I dont think the MA or the Focal would ever live up to its potential with a mediocre amp

Infact in both the examples I feel the overal expereince will be not worth the money spent.

Its like buying your new girlfriend a diamond ring and you take her to a dhaba and propose to her over there.

You listen to the sound. its produced by the speakers. thats the most important component in the chain. You dont need awesome amplification to get great sound from speakers. Decent amplification will take you to about 90-95% of sound. the remaining 5% will cost you years, lacs, hair etc.

The ratio sounds good to me. If I had 5L to spend, i will spend 3.5L on speakers and max 1.5L on amplification. Heck I might skimp even more, manage the amp in a L and get a great headphone setup also:lol:

 

[spirovious]

DIY experts says,that we can build a good speaker for price upto 1/3rd of reputed Brand.In that way,we can save more & get good amp.

 

[Zwischen]

You listen to the sound. its produced by the speakers. thats the most important component in the chain. You dont need awesome amplification to get great sound from speakers. Decent amplification will take you to about 90-95% of sound. the remaining 5% will cost you years, lacs, hair etc.

The ratio sounds good to me. If I had 5L to spend, i will spend 3.5L on speakers and max 1.5L on amplification. Heck I might skimp even more, manage the amp in a L and get a great headphone setup also:lol:

Yes we listen to the sound and it is produced by the speakers. Without the amplifier, the speaker is piece of furniture and without the speaker the amplifier is a room warmer.

When you are talking about 5L setup, your argument holds true to an extent. Since at that price wha is get is high end on both the spectrums

However l am talking about the shoestring budget end of business which 95% of the FM's here have 50k - 1lalkh

 

[Zwischen]

DIY experts says,that we can build a good speaker for price upto 1/3rd of reputed Brand.In that way,we can save more & get good amp.

i have heard some very good diy speakers which could decimate commerical speakers.
however they are not easy to build, cabient designing and crossover know how is very important and may not be everyones cup of tea

 

[BLASTO]

@OP.

HT -> Spend limited on AVR. They keeps changing. Used stuff are available at 1/3 rates and could be much better than current models if you are willing to sacrifice some feature comforts.
Fronts and Center, the highest you can afford. Surrounds can be anything to start with.


Stereo -> Spend 50-50 ideally. But speakers are the ones you would want to keep and experiment with many amps. If upgrade has to be accounted, get a 25:75 in favour of speakers and upgrade to higher end amps shortly. Key is to go for well known brand atleast initially so that the upgrade can be done without hazzle of finding a seller.
The lower end electronics tend to give minimal losses during upgrade than the speakers. Get the just discontinued 2 ch amps at bargain prices.

 

[hydra]

Well, I've always felt that an approximate 40-30-20-10 (in %) split was about right for the speakers-amp-source-cables(& accessories) if we were working on a fixed budget for the entire setup. Most of my fantasy setups invariably settle down into this model.

But we rarely build our setups that way, do we?

 

[manoj.p]

Maruti Alto can't do much better with race car fuel.
A race car will still do quite good with regular fuel.

 

[BLASTO]

Maruti Alto can't do much better with race car fuel.
A race car will still do quite good with regular fuel.

A race car cannot do good with kerosene. hyeah:

 

[Flash]

Well, I've always felt that an approximate 40-30-20-10 (in %) split was about right for the speakers-amp-source-cables(& accessories) if we were working on a fixed budget for the entire setup. Most of my fantasy setups invariably settle down into this model.

But we rarely build our setups that way, do we?

Yes true we rarely build our setups this way. I follow the same sort of split

I invariably always end up spending more on my amps in the long run

 

[manoj.p]

A race car cannot do good with kerosene. hyeah:

You got me, partner... :lol:

let me rephrase it then.
Alto wont do much better on race car fuel.
But race car will do fine on regular gasoline.

 

[BLASTO]

Yes true we rarely build our setups this way. I follow the same sort of split

I invariably always end up spending more on my amps in the long run

If you get a pre + 2 mono blocks, the above equation do not hold good.

 

[reignofchaos]

If you want the maximum performance out of the speaker, be ready to spend 2x-3x the cost of the speaker in electronics, sometimes even more. However as we all know once in a while you do get a great bargain in electronics and may not end up spending as much.

 

[BLASTO]

A race car cannot do good with kerosene. hyeah:

You got me, partner... :lol:

Trust me, there are guys here who ended up B&W and low end marantz reading individual reviews. It just could not drive!!

 

[Flash]

If you get a pre + 2 mono blocks, the above equation do not hold good.

lol ... Yeah, it does not :lol::lol: and pretty soon i foresee you sailing in the same boat :clapping::yahoo:

 

[Flash]

Trust me, there are guys here who ended up B&W and low end marantz reading individual reviews. It just could not drive!!

Yes sad but true. I guess quality amplification does play a very important part in making a speaker sing

 

[manoj.p]

Well, you do need to have enough amplification demanded by the speaker. That is paramount. But having too much is simply waste of money. Because in real life, the speaker hardly needs that much. But it does give the headroom for dynamics, if needed. Now, how much headroom one needs is subjective. Moreover, there is a law of diminishing returns. More money you spend on electronics, the more incremental benefits it gives. The difference of "Day or Night" or "So many veils are lifted" is not a whole lot in real terms.

My analogy was like this - The better package is always - get good speakers first and then amp that can drive those comfortably. You can have an expensive, top quality amp but if speakers are mediocre, it will still sound mediocre.

 

[corElement]

The subject is invalid and a bad measure of quality because prices are dynamic to situation.

I would say spend more on research for the best deal of both speaker and amp rather than allot a budget restriction on either.