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

I will say, Maggie’s are probably an exception to this (meaning they are a wonderful value, wonderful sounding speakers), but in general, I would typically recommend spending 50%+ of the entire hardware budget on speakers. Just looking at speakers and amps, then it would be something like 2:1 speakers/amps.

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If just counting the amp alone the ratio is 4:1 speakers to amp.

It’s been a while since I checked, but a refresh of the build sheet yields this cost breakdown.

Power amplification is roughly 1.5x speaker cost.

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That’s a low percentage for speakers cables, compared to most anything else. Not criticizing, just interesting, that’s all.

Edit: I would typically include any subwoofers as part of the speaker cost.

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They definitely don’t stand out at 16% the cost of the speakers, but they are very very good!

That is aligned with Kalman Rubinson’s approach.

Very interesting to me is the whole analogue playback system vs digital server.

I didn’t even know there was an approach. When I purchased the equipment, I simply went with what I liked. But, I guess it’s good to know that what I did is in line with some kind of approach.

The great thing about the audiophile affliction is that if you look hard enough, you can probably find an approach that legitimized just about anything one can imagine. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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That’s a big👍’s up.

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I don’t feel I have a substantial enough investment in records to compel shooting for the SOTA. The analog portion is quite good as configured and given I spend over 95% of my listening time on the digital side, I think the investment lines up.

I totally understand. In my system, more than once, I was on the edge of doing away with analogue but somehow, it survived and got upgraded three times in the past 10 years.

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My ratio is $20k pre+power amps, $12k speakers. So nearly 2-to-1. Thought about some $25k speakers for evening things out (Revels, Focals and Magicos are on the top of my list) but really loving my Legacy Focus SEs right now.

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If I include pre-amplification, which I think I should, my ratio is just over 1 (pre- and amps) to 1 (speakers). And it’s a great match.

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pre + power would put my amplification to speakers above 3:1 :see_no_evil:

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Best is to start at speakers that fit the room, acoustic as well as esthetic wise.

My Canton 807 DC did sound good but were ported and did cause listening fatigue in our current smaller European living room. They did sound perfect in our large Texas living room that was also more acoustically damped.

Being in our small European living room we replaced the AV bi-amp by the NAD M33 Eigentakt, and oh boy can amps make a difference, it all sounded so good. But still (due to the room) there was harshness that caused fatigue.

Than we heard the Buchardt S400 Signature Edition at Buchardt Audio in Silkeborg/Virklund Denmark. They sounded so good. Hesitated a bit but then pulled the trigger on them. They do match our living room, with their passive radiators ideal for smallere rooms, the soft dome tweeter with wave guide has a relaxed smoothness that allows us to enjoy the music way better. They love quite a bit of power (4 Ohm), the M33 delivers 340 W into 4 Ohm and does not disappoint at all.

Integrated amp NAD 33 (streamer / DAC / phono stage / Dirac room correction / 200 W into 8 Ohm Purifi Eigentakt)
Vs.
Buchardt S400 Signature Edition + Stands:
1.6 : 1 price ratio, keep in mind that the M33 does a lot more than amplification.

In my home office I have a NAD C658 (streamer / DAC / phono stage / pre amp) connected with balanced XLR to my (nearly vintage) Yamaha MSP5 active monitors. Cost Ratio 3:1. No regrets, at all.

Statements that amp to speaker ratio has to be around 0.3 are totally unrealistic. A good amp costs a lot of money to start with. If you than would need to spend 3 to 4 times the money on the speakers to make it sound right, it would be impossible to start in this hobby or even enjoy it. These numbers are utterly depressing and misleading as it is simply not true that speakers must cost so much money to sound right.

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I adore Buchardts, they’re amazing speakers for the pricepoint, I have the S300 Mk2s.

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The Andy Griffith Show?

Yep! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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M1200’s 6K with PSB IMAGINE T3’S 7.5K

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$40k amp driving $80k speakers. I could spend more but I make up for it with absurdly high priced cables. Cables may very well be over half the price of my entire system.

Now you do it too. It’s so worth it!

It’s like having Mark, Don, & Mel right here in the room with me!

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