What is the ratio of your power amp $ value / your speakers $ value?

$3300 (PSA M700s) to $1000 (Maggie LSR with MagRiser stands)

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So years ago driving a very entry level Harman Infinity Beta 50s with a Denon POA 2200 then
upgraded to Parasound A21 power amp 3x the price of the Beta 50s…and the Beta 50’s
could really display the upgraded amp quality…Beta 50’s never saw the JC5 though would
have been very interesting though.

Now driving Focal Aria 948s upgraded from Parasound A21 to Parasound JC5 the sq moved
moved up significantly.

So in the 1st case A21 driving Beta 50s…big improvement. 3x price difference.
In the 2nd case Aria 948s - JC5 in US prices about equal…in other countries the JC5 price
is probably far higher.

Yes as you move up the amplifier chain even disproportionately so in my .02…decent inexpensive
speakers will step up and show the difference…but will not play on the same level
that higher up the chain speaker will with same amp.

Have fun with this y’all
Best wishes

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Current amps are BHK 300’s = ~$16,000 (~$22,000 if you include the BHK preamp)

Speakers in rotation:
Spatial Audio X5 = ~$7500
Acoustic Zen Crescendo MK 2 = ~$24,000
Wilson Sasha DAW = ~$38,000
T+A CWT 1000-40 Carbon = ~$73,000
(Haven’t setup the Wilson’s or T+A’s yet)

(edit)
All prices are retail. All of the speakers except the X5’s were were bought on the secondary market.

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Wilson Watt/Puppy 8 $27,900
Audio Research Ref75SE $10,000

That’s MSRP, not what I paid. :grin:

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My speaker:amp ratio is close to 1. Maybe a tad over 1 (depends on which of two pairs of speakers I own I have lashed up to the rig today). But it just turned out that way. I reject rules of thumb regarding component cost ratios when making purchase decisions. For a given budget limit, I decide what to buy based only on sonics. If a 5:1 speaker:amp ratio is what pans out after I decide on SQ grounds what works best, so be it. My 2 cents.

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Agreed - I’m with you - M1200s - 3.7i. Great value.
Blended Rel sub for critical listening tamer tunes or a hi/low pass configuration to jamo 15" sub for those chest thumping pantleg shaking concert replication nights. Even if it is slightly exaggerated, there is just something about having your entire body acoustically massaged. Like your first big concert experience. Makes the hairs do a standing ovation. An acreage is a subwoofer’s best companion…
I’ve never heard the DWM panels - I’d like to sample them one day!

My speakers were made in 1999 (MSRP $16k, but paid $7.5k last month), but my amps were made in 2020 and 2021 (cost on sale was $13.5k), so that comparison is a bit off for inflation…plus I have a biamped system of four mono amps.

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ā€œPoor Horatio!ā€

One of the greatest lines ever uttered, for those fans who know where it’s from! :wink: :grin:

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The time I had pre and power amp instead of pre with active speakers, my ratio always was around 1/3 speaker, 2/3 amps. You can’t fix what you loose from start. In case of good, coherent, affordable speakers like Maggies, it even makes sense to go towards 1/4 - 3/4 imo.

A 30k speaker with compromised amplification would be frustrating for me in comparison, after my experience where important things happen.

My ratios are quite off I think, but will explain why:

                                          Actual                         MSRP

Integrated Amplifier 60.06% 70.84%
Speakers 39.94% 29.16%

The Amp was an ex demo model, they’d unpacked it to use in the shop in March last year literally a week before the country went into full lockdown. Had about 10 hours use on the tubes. They let it go to me for a discount of 44% in about July, and it was straight from the very well established hifi shop, not from a dodgy ebay seller or something. I think as a lot of places were doing, they were just clearing out any shop stock to make way for the more online sales approach.

The Speakers I also got at a slight discount for ā€œB Stockā€ items, these were speakers that had been returned during the returns period, they’d been fully checked over and still had full warranty. There wasn’t a blemish on them physically or performance wise.

Also, my speakers are small bookshelf speakers as at the moment I have a very restricted space. The reason the amp is so overspecced is that I will be buying full floorstanders when I move to a bigger place in a couple of years at a larger cost.

All in all, I really lucked out value wise with the amplifier, until I came across that deal I was looking at substantially lesser models. Thank god for lockdown (no offense intended).

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If a speaker is relatively neutral is becomes a canvas that you can paint on for long time. I have, and still have, Maggie 1.7i’s that have been driven by all sorts of amps and l currently use BHK 300’s. These speakers represent about 5% of system cost so I guess I will win the worst ratio award.:grimacing:

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Yes that’s what I mean. Maggies are the best example how much the ratio can go in the unusual direction. I’d prefer such a setup to most which incorporate the usual well known 39k speakers with limited/compromised front ends.

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My speakers are 2X my amp. Not sure if that is good or bad but it sure sounds ok… :blush:

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Almost all the current loudspeakers in our home and vacation place(s) are actives, ATCs in the big rig and a variety of awesome old Kef driver based analog Meridian analog actives elsewhere. All feature very high quality onboard analog active crossovers and Class AB amplifiers with reliable linear power supplies. So I don’t have to expend consideration or dollars on the subject of this thread!

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Thank you all for your input. I was trying to detect a trend, and there does not seem to be one. Personally, I think my current $ ratio of power amp to speakers is inverted, and I should aim for 1:2 upon my next upgrade. My target is aligned with the ratio applied by @roninaudio :+1:t2:

I’m at 1:2, amps (monos) to speakers.

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Soon we’ll be seeing a trend :slightly_smiling_face:

That ratio has certainly worked for me across multiple amp manufacturers both SS and Tube and speakers being primarily Dyn and Wilson.
Everyone has their own idea what is most important, speakers, amp or source but I always start with speakers figuring the impact on the system is close to 2 to 1 reference speaker vs amp and other components.

I get the best speaker I can find and build backwards. Just my 2c.

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My speakers are approximately 8x my amp from an MSRP perspective.

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I have the same ratio too. I am very happy with my speakers pairing with the M1200 amps mainly because their effortless power. M1200 replaced my previous favorites BAT 150 (more like 1:2 ratio) and I have to say I do not miss BAT much.