Audio Cost Allocations

The most important component in your system is your speakers. Find what like and them build your system around it. Next is your preamp, and then your source equipment. Tube or not to tube? That is question.

There are various points of view as to whether the source is most important, the speakers, the amplification, etc... My theory is that a chain ( or audio system ) is only as strong as its' weakest link. As such, it has to be built around that premise. You can't buy a "better" piece here to try and "band aid" / make up for the "not quite as good" piece over there. Most try to achieve a balanced system without singling out any one component as being more important than another. After all, remove or change any one of them on a system that is finely tuned and the synergy is no longer there.... Sean
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The most important component in your system is your front end. Find what like and them build your system around it.

garbage in = garbage out

The early responses to your questions, which had me in stitches, make a good point. Finding products that work extremely well and, more importantly, extremely well together, is not a numbers game. The idea that you should allocate a certain amount of your budget to a certain type of component indicates that somehow all products at a certain price point are capable of similar performance. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no shortcut for the hard work of listening, matching, evaluating, and finally making a decision on a particular product. I personally believe you can start anywhere: speakers, pre-amp, front-end, etc, but I like starting with the pre-amp. It is best to start with the component around which you wish to build your system and which hopefully should be the best or one of the best you have heard, and then you wish to find others which complement it well. The fun is in the getting there rather than achieving the goal. Good luck and forget about the allocation formulas.