Why do folks spend more on electronics than on speakers?

A system is a total of its parts and the end result hopefully would be positive but I am from the camp that speakers are the most important purchase and should be where the most money should be invested. I have had audiophiles over and one told me that he thought that I could put any components on them and they will sound good.

to say the speaker selection/purchase is the most important and most impactful towards the goal of great sound in the room being used is true... but it is not the same as saying the speakers need to be the most expensive component in the system... 

best not to conflate a vs b...

10 years spent seriously building a ‘budget’ system on mostly used equipment, I ended up with a 10% speaker (LS-50) that really isn’t worth upgrading, yet.  Along the way I went through 5 amps, 4 pre-amps, three sets of speakers, three brands of cables, 4 DACs, tubes, transistors, old school, new school, you get the picture.  
 

None of the equipment was cheap, or bad for that matter.  But the one thing that was apparent was that speakers made the least difference.  However, the best speakers had the greatest intolerance for poor quality.  Components that sounded great on cheaper speakers sounded bad on really good, resolving speakers.  Conversely, all the speakers sounded good on good equipment.  And full range is never cheap, so I live with the sub for when it’s needed.
 

Most importantly, once a certain quality threshold is met, price and performance are not as coupled as one may think, which is why few end up on the same path when it comes to price for a particular component.

I am going to try to answer your question with a completely different answer than every other one I have seen. You asked WHY. Not what makes the most sense, but WHY. Why do some people have far more money in electronics than speakers.

I think for the almost all audiophiles, whether they admit it or not, it is a matter of logistics and retail therapy. Audiophiles buy equipment because they like to buy equipment. It’s retail therapy for them. Just the simple act of something new is a psychological reward. Come on, admit it, you all know this is true.

That brings us to logistics. Most amplifiers, and almost any other product are easy to buy, pack, and ship. There are 300lb amplifiers but they are the exception. Even a 75lb amplifier is fairly easy to pack and ship. Speakers are a pain. They are heavy, they are awkward, they are difficult to ship, if buying used, shipping can be a substantial part of the price. But the audiophile needs his retail therapy fix. The best choice would be to upgrade the speakers, but that take a lot of effort. Even selling a used pair is a lot of work. So, instead, the audiophile upgrades their DAC, their pre, adds some high end cables, and before you know it, those $5K speakers which represented a large portion of their system, are now $5K speakers in a $30K system.

I think for the almost all audiophiles, whether they admit it or not, it is a matter of logistics and retail therapy. Audiophiles buy equipment because they like to buy equipment. It’s retail therapy for them. Just the simple act of something new is a psychological reward. Come on, admit it, you all know this is true.

😁😊

i cannot contradict this analysis...

I dont suffer of this "buying and plug" pleasure disease it is the reason why it takes me a long time to determine (without being able to listen to them ) the rightful piece of gear...I could not  take the risk of frustration and loose money after buying...

Once these choices  was done i FORGOT the gear, and focus my attention to their mechanical, electrical and acoustical performance ....

I had never thought seriously about this "retail therapy" or obsession for products and successive upgrade at this view angle, i thought that it was only ignorance, or laziness, or the fact that few people dont own a dedicated room ,which is for me the greatest asset ,but effectively if an audio system is not acoustically optimized in his room, there cannot be always a great musical satisfaction because  will focus theior attention  always on the sound defects or too many defects... Then upgrading and the pleasure to buy something play a role...This change the body place sickness...

Then buying give to the brain his reward , but this question "why" is a mix of many factors not only "retail therapy" but you make a point....

There is only two way the brain release the "rewarding chemicals" at the end : buying a new piece of gear, a new tweaks, or buying new music...

Then we must solve the three embeddings control problem, mechanical, electrical and acoustical,  if not, what i call the upgrade obsession or " the retail therapy" will replace the acoustic optimization process...

And the acoustic optimization process ask for a "method" not for the accidental addition of external "tweaks" even if some works....I dont doubt it much because i replicate many at low costs... 😁😊

Most tweaks though  are minor modifications compared to the acoustic and psycho-acoustic method...Sometimes very interesting and low cost yes...

But tweaks are not a method of listening nor an acoustic method...