amp question

Here a question thats interest's me and was therefore hoping anyone else has an opinion or personal experience on.

With budget of around $10,000 -$12,000 for a pre/power amp. Has anybody, after of course auditioning several suitable options. Decided to instead of spending the complete budget on what ever particular pre/ amp they decided on. To purchase a cheaper model possibly from same manufacture in such a way as to leave enough budget to be able to buy as well a 'state of the art' support for it, such as made by SRA, Silent Running, Vibraplane etc along with say a very specialist power cable again just for example, Nordost Valhalla etc. In either the believe or from actual experience that this alternative approach to the budgeting has given better results. For example.Buying a Pass Labs integrated with a specialist support and cable instead of their cheapest seperate's with just a normal type rack and cables.